


We’re Gonna Be Someday

by MerMagicAnaLily



Series: Andi Mack in Other Media [1]
Category: Andi Mack (TV), Z - Fandom, Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (Disney Movies)
Genre: Andi Mack - Freeform, Disney Zombies AU, Gen, M/M, Zombies, because mood, but this is a love story, high key racism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-03-01
Packaged: 2021-02-19 05:22:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 33,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22805917
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MerMagicAnaLily/pseuds/MerMagicAnaLily
Summary: Zombies are real, and T.J. Kippen is one. But he doesn’t want to eat your brains, and his skin isn’t falling off and rotting. He just wants to play basketball at the school, and maybe become closer to that human boy, Cyrus. But Shadyside isn’t one for progress. If zombies want things to be better, it’s all on him.
Relationships: Buffy Driscoll/Marty, Cyrus Goodman/T. J. Kippen
Series: Andi Mack in Other Media [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1651267
Comments: 36
Kudos: 71





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I liked Zombies, yes I saw the second one, and yes I saw Milo’s hair and thought of T.J. Let’s do this thing!
> 
> Also, I hit some hard times recently, and I’m trying to pay for law school, so please, help me go through school and continue writing by donating to my ko-fi.com/mermagicanalily Any little bit would help! Please!

_ Shadyside was perfect. Everyone had perfect homes, perfect families, perfect lives. You could even argue that they had perfect hair, teeth, and skin. But, it wasn’t always perfect. About 50 years ago, an accident at a power plant involving lemon-lime soda caused a massive explosion, one that resulted in about 30% of the population turning into stumbling, green-haired, brain-eating zombies. For months, they wreaked havoc on the formerly sleepy suburb, until they were able to be contained to a small section of the town, informally and later formally named “Zombietown.” _

_ As the years passed, technology evolved, and so did the zombies, in a way. They all wore Z-Bands, an electronic bracelet given to them at birth and updated as they grow that sends electronic pulses meant to satiate the old zombie impulsivity and “monstrosity.” It replaced the need for brains for electric stimulation. They also started eating a cauliflower brain substitute for the physical hunger aspect.  _

_ But during these years, though zombies became more controlled and fully cognizant, they were still confined to Zombietown unless they were going to work for humans in low level jobs. They also were forced to wear government-mandated coveralls to identify them as zombies, even though they all already had green hair, sunken-in eyes, and pale skin. They were also given outdated technology, their houses were run down and mashed together, and they all dealt with verbal and emotional abuse from the human citizens of Shadyside. But zombies made the best of their clothes by customizing it and creating their own style. _

_ Last year, something amazing happened. Several human lawyers who saw the conditions that zombie-kind were subjugated to and made comparisons to other disenfranchised citizens of the past, and essentially fought to allow zombies to be admitted into a real school. The process would be slow, with only one of the four high schools in the area allowing zombies to attend, and the performance of that high school would dictate how it would go for the rest of the schools in the district.  _

* * *

T.J. Kippen was sixteen years old, and one of the 30 zombies selected to start going to Grant High for the new desegregation experiment. He inspected his hair, gelled enough to get his swoop in place. He hated his fluffy hair. He felt like it made him look more like a zombie, a monster. He looked for the piece of coverall that resembled a hoodie and put it before checking his hair again and getting everything into his backpack. He felt like he was going to throw up and like he could run a mile. He had no idea what to expect. His father typically kept him and his friends in Zombietown, never letting them leave. He only left when he was bussed to his job at the automotive factory, telling T.J. and his friends “there’s nothing out there for young Zombies like you, only work for grown-ups like me.”

Now, he was venturing out of their little slum for the first time in his life, and he was going to go to a real high school! He’d seen all the human shows on TV and read all the books, and he thought he was ready to dominate (in a totally non-monstrous way). He had plans of trying out for the basketball team, of finally getting a real locker and classrooms instead of random basements stuffed with 20-40 kids and adults trying their best to “home school” them. Maybe this year he would actually understand math. 

He walked out of his home and out into the street where the other kids selected to start desegregating the school were gathered. He ran up to his friends, Lenni Varma and Marty Festeiro, who were buying some cauli-brains on a stick for a before school snack. “Guys, you ready for this?”

“T.J.,” Marty gave him a fist bump before handing him a cauli-brain. “You think this is gonna work?”

“Think what? The whole desegregation thing?” 

“Yeah. You have actual faith?”

“I mean...they’ve done it in the past, right?” T.J. said. “Why wouldn’t it work now?”

“Because back then, it was humans and humans, and nobody actually thought they were going to be sharing classrooms with monsters,” Lenni said. 

“Good thing we’re not monsters,” T.J. said. “We’re zombies.”

“Zombies are one of the original monsters in Hollywood.”

“Yeah, but we’re not like, dead come back to life, and falling apart at the seams,” he said. “We’re just...not human.” 

“Zombies used to be the exact thing you’re describing,” Marty pointed out. “Before Z-Bands and brain substitutes.”

“Not exactly. Technically, zombies were never ‘dead’ dead humans,” he said. “And, the whole thing about turning someone else into a zombie by biting them is...well, plain dumb.” 

“Well that’s because zombies, before we were actually real, were thought to be spread by virus,” Lenni said. “Not genetics. Either way, people still think of The Walking Dead, not their kinda quiet neighborhood trash man.”

“Well, now, they’ll see more of us up close thanks to the desegregation laws,” he said. “We’ll be real high schoolers. We’ll be strutting down hallways, meeting people outside of the same people we see here every day in Zombietown, go to homecoming, and prom…I could try out for basketball…”

“Do you think you’ll be able to get it?” Marty asked skeptically. 

“Hey, I’m by far the best basketball player here in Zombietown, and I’m sure I could smoke those humans off the court with my Z-Band magnetically locked onto a fridge,” he said confidently, putting his arms around his friends. “Guys, we’re officially the first zombies in a human school. Just imagine how freaking cool this is gonna be!”

* * *

“Cyrus, why are you so nervous?” Buffy asked, lying on his bed and scrolling through her phone. 

“It’s the first day of school, and I’ve got to look my best to impress.” He took off his pink button-up and tried on a blue one instead, modeling it to himself in front of his mirror. 

“It’s not even the first day of freshman year,” Andi said. “What’s different this year?”

“This year,” he said. “I came out over the summer...granted to you guys and Jonah and literally nobody else, but…could people tell that I’m gay by looking at me?”

“You wear literally what ninety percent of the other guys do at school,” Buffy said. “You don’t ‘look’ gay. Because that means nothing.”

“I just…you know how Shadyside reacts to different. Everyone is supposed to be perfect, all the time. The fact that my parents are divorced and remarried caused wild rumors for 3 years! I am not mentally prepared for that!” 

“You know, given what’s happening at school, there’s a chance you could wear a full clown suit to school and nobody would even notice,” Andi said.

“What do you...oh...oh my god that’s right!” Cyrus gasped. “Zombies! My parents have been prepping me, saying that all the psychological research on zombies shows tendencies of psycho and sociopathy so I have to be extra careful.”

“You really think they’re like that?” Andi asked. “My mom thinks they’re just misunderstood.”

“My parents have studied fifty years worth of their psychology,” he said. “Todd’s main idea that most of them are on board with is that we need to be wary of them and their unbalanced mental state, but that they deserve a chance for education and job opportunities and all that.”

“That’s...one way to go about things,” Andi said, frowning slightly. 

“Well, whatever way we see things,” Buffy said. “We need to get to school before we’re late. And go with the blue.” 

Cyrus nodded and finished getting ready before grabbing his bag and walking with the girls to school. It was different, the school he’d seen for his entire life growing up, now it had a chain link fence dividing the front door of the school, and one entrance was labeled “humans” and the other “zombies.” There were armed guards from the Z-Patrol on the other side of the fence as thirty green-haired teenagers milled around chattering nervously and excitedly. Cyrus had to frown a little. They looked so...normal, like them. Could his parents be wrong?

No...they would never intentionally spread false rumors. His parents were good, smart people. All four of them. 

“Cyrus, come on, before we’re late,” Buffy said, grabbing his shoulder. He nodded and started walking in when he caught the eyes of one of the zombie boys. He didn’t know zombies could have big blue eyes. He saw a small smile, and he felt his own cheeks move to smile back. Looking at him, it felt like the world slowed down a little, and he couldn’t really hear anything else. It was just his eyes and his smile. 

Then Andi pulled him through the door. “What’s going on with you?”

“Sorry! Sorry, I’ve just...I’ve never really seen any zombies our age…” he said, looking back at the fence. The zombie side wasn’t open just yet, but he had to focus and go to homeroom. He did not want to be late on his first day. 

* * *

T.J. had only really seen human teenagers on tv and in the old run-down movie theater in Zombietown, but none of them were like him. He was...he wasn’t like those teenagers played by 20 year olds, but that didn’t make him look frumpy or anything like that. That human boy was…he didn’t even know the words. He wanted to hop the fence, tap him on the shoulder and introduce himself-

“Are we going to have a problem, zombie?” A guard broke through his thoughts and he saw him towering over Lenni with a hand on his taser. 

“No! No problems, sir,” T.J. said, stepping in and in front of his friend. 

“I just...my ring fell off on the other side…” she said. “It was my mom’s…”

“No zombies on the human side,” he said gruffly. T.J. and Marty frowned slightly and shared a glance. Wasn’t the whole point desegregation?”

“Sir,” Marty came in next to him. “Would it be possible then for mayb a guard to get it for her, give it back?”

He narrowed his eyes but then whistled over to a female guard by the barrier. “Jefferson, do me a favor and get that ring on the human side. It’s a zombie trinket.”

Lenni looked like she was about to argue but T.J. held her arm, sharing one look. ‘Not worth it.’ “Thank you sir,” he said sincerely.

“She’ll give it to you in your classroom. Now! Orderly line! No one do anything funny!”

Everyone mumbled and started following the path led ahead. “Much better life,” Lenni mumbled. 

“Hey, we knew the humans were going to be...hesitant,” Marty said. “No more being stuck in a dingy basement through, right?” 

They were led through a door and then looked around. They were in a dimly lit, dirty basement. Lenni rolled her eyes and looked at Marty. “You were saying?” 

“Welcome...everyone…” a woman squeezed past the mass of teenagers, looking like she was careful not to touch them. “I am assistant principal Lee…welcome to Grant High. A few rules for you.” She touched Chet on the shoulder and immediately pulled out hand sanitizer, cleaning her hands ferociously. “This is your classroom. You will stay in the basement during school. After school, you will promptly return home. Janitor Wells will serve as your teacher for...everything,” she said, gesturing. Clearly he was the only zombie faculty member. 

“Um...Vice Principal Lee,” T.J. raised his hand. “I was wondering what time basketball tryouts were?”

“And track team?” Marty asked. 

“Are those things outside the basement?” She asked condescendingly. 

“Um...I assume so…” 

“Then you will...not.” She said, looking at them all with disgust. “The State Courts mandated us to allow zombies here...and here you are. We’re not required to do more. End of story…goodbye.” She all but ran out of the room, and everyone started mumbling. 

“Wow…” Lenni said. “We’re in the human areas...and nothing’s changed,” Lenni rolled her eyes. “What a backwards-ass place.”

“Yeah…” T.J. said. “I’m signing up for basketball tryouts.”

“But, Lee said-“

“I’m aware,” T.J. cut Marty off. “But I’m going to be so good, they’ll have no option but to let me on. Cover for me.” He moved back and quietly slipped out of the door. He could hear Marty’s huff on the other side of the door and he quickly made his way through the halls, looking for the gym. 

He ducked past windows, slid around corners, trying not to be seen...until he stubbed his toe on some superfluous decorative plant. All of his stealth went out the window and he cried out, hobbling slightly. Just his luck, some blonde girl in a cheerleading outfit passed by and saw him. 

“ROGUE ZOMBIE!” She screamed and pulled down the Z Alert handle. This was not his day. Soon everyone started running out of the classrooms and T.J. knew he had to go and hide, especially when a group of guys started chasing him down.

* * *

Cyrus had just put his bag down in homeroom when the alarms went off. Everyone around him went into a panic, throwing things around, rushing around the halls in no discernible direction, and he was forced out of the room and away from his friends in the middle of the chaos.

Since the alarms went off, everyone assumed that there was a zombie in the middle of a rampage around the school, so he did the only logical thing he could do in that situation and found the school’s Zombie safe room and walked in, locking it behind him. “Zombie Safe Room Secure.”

“Hello?”

Inside the dark room only barely illuminated by emergency lights, he could see somebody’s silhouette. “Um...hi.”

“Come here often?”

Cyrus had to chuckle a little. “It’s a good place to go in the middle of a riot. But I used to come here to be alone, when I felt bad about myself…so fairly often.”

“And here I thought I was the king of self-deprecation,” he laughed. “What’s your name?”

“Cyrus...Cyrus Goodman, you?”

“T.J. Kippen”

“Mysterious, what does T.J. stand for?”

“A mystery only known within my family,” he said. “Though my friend Marty calls me Tippen Jippen Kippen whenever I annoy him.”

“Clever. So…were you expecting to be here on your first day of class too?”

“Totally, story of my life.” He made his way closer to the other figure until they were standing face to face...if they could see each other’s faces. “It’s not a first day unless you’re trapped in a zombie panic room with enough rations for...I’m guessing a whole year?”

“Well...you know Shadyside and zombies. Calling it a complex history would be an understatement,” Cyrus chuckled. 

“I’m well aware. Hopefully this drill doesn’t ruin my chances of trying out for the basketball team.”

“Really? My best friend Buffy is the captain of the girls’ team. I know it’s totally different, but maybe she could give you some pointers on how to avoid getting cut?”

“Well, couldn’t hurt, right? I mean, my dad doesn’t think I’ll make the team though.”

“What? I’m sure you will! Maybe you need someone to cheer for you. And my giant handmade posters always steal the show at Buffy’s basketball games. I happen to be the master of puns...even if I don’t always understand how basketball works. But I’m sure I could make T.J. puns too.”

“Well, maybe I could get those signs, and in exchange, I’ll teach you more about the game?”

“You can try, but Buffy’s been trying to since the second grade. I still don’t really understand what Traveling is. I mean, the ball is supposed to go from point A to point B, right?”

“Right...it just has to be done the right way. The same way you can’t drive a car on the sidewalk,” T.J. said. “Maybe you need someone new to teach you? A different approach?”

The lights turned on and Cyrus finally got a good glimpse of the green hair, pale skin, and red rimmed eyes of the guy he was talking to. “Zombie!” He stumbled backwards and fell down on his ass. T.J. winced slightly before taking a tentative step forward. 

“Are you okay?” He offered a hand to him, unsure if Cyrus was going to take it. Cyrus had to think about it for a second, before accepting the hand to get up. So far no sociopathic tendencies, but too early to tell on psychopathic. He’d give T.J. the benefit of the doubt for now. 

“Yeah...I guess I’ve lived in this town for too long, huh?” He said, looking down a little with a hand on the back of his neck. “I just...I’m sorry. That was so incredibly rude of me, panicking and freaking out because I saw your face...not that your face is bad, it’s just…”

“A zombie?” T.J. asked. “Yeah...I know.”

“I’m...not used to seeing any zombies that aren’t adults who hate their jobs?” Cyrus sighed. “That was a horrible, horrible excuse. I’m sorry. But...you’re not anything like the way people around here describe zombies.” 

T.J. looked at him and actually smiled a little, until the door slammed open again Andi and Buffy rushed in. “Cyrus! There you are!” Buffy rushed and hugged him, then looked over at T.J. and pulled him back a little. “We were worried! And you, what were you doing?!”

“Nothing, I swear. I just...came in here by accident and…”

“He was actually in the room first Buffy,” Cyrus interrupted. “I’m fine. See? Totally fine.”

Andi was looking at T.J. curiously, not trusting, but not mistrusting either. Buffy instead was the one taking charge. “Just…don’t go around getting any ideas.” She grabbed the two and pulled them out of the room. Cyrus turned his head as he was led out and got another look back, giving T.J. a soft smile.

* * *

“You triggered the zombie drill?!” Lenni asked, outraged as they walked out of their basement classroom and towards the exit. Human kids weren’t allowed off campus to eat, and zombies had the opposite problem. They had to go back into the borders of Zombietown to get their food and come back before the next class. “Do you know how humiliating that was? We were forced against a wall and frisked. Chet got tased.”

“What?! Why?”

“Because Chet doesn’t speak English,” Marty said. “He kept trying to tell them that the only thing in his bag was his books, but since they came out in zombie instead…one of the guards thought he was threatening her and tased him.”

“That’s because humans hate us with every fiber of their being,” a girl said, catching up to them. 

“Kira, what do you want?”

“I want this failure of an experiment to end so we can go back living the way we’re supposed to. Zombies on our side, humans on theirs.”

“Wow...you’re actually opposed to Civil Rights and you’re a member of the oppressed class,” Lenni rolled her eyes. 

“They don’t want us around, and I say we shouldn’t be. Equal rights, but separate.”

The three of them rolled their eyes again. “Just go home and eat your lunch.”

“You should come with me, T.J.,” she flirted, and Marty gagged. 

“Yeah...no. Bye.” He grabbed his friends by the shoulders and went for the cauli-brains taco stand, away from Kira. 

“She’s still trying to get with you?” Marty frowned. “Doesn’t she know?”

“Know what?” T.J. asked, ordering each of them a taco and paying for it.

“That you’re gay?” Lenni asked. 

“No...because you guys are the only ones who know outside of my family,” he said. “Shadyside already has a problem with me being a zombie. And they’re still behind on gay rights, thinking all gay people are pedofiles who prey after young boys. And you want me to be an out gay zombie? One of these things I can hide. And it’s better for that.”

“You’re ashamed of being gay?” Lenni asked. 

“No...I’m afraid. There’s a difference.”

They were quiet after that. What else can you say, really? T.J. just looked at his Z-Band. Maybe if he was human, he would be allowed to love freely if he was human. Well, he’d still be ridiculed, but at least people wouldn’t call him a monster. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Let me know what you think! Comment or perhaps donate to my ko-fi!!! Any little bit helps!


	2. Chapter 2

Cyrus looked around the lunchroom. “Are we even really sharing the school with zombies?”

“More like sharing the building,” Andi said, frowning slightly. “Vice Principal Lee doesn’t even want them leaving the basement except for lunch.”

“Maybe that’s for the best,” Buffy said. “I mean...zombies and humans. Historically, we don’t mix.”

“But that was before the invention of the Z-Bands,” Andi argued. “And you don’t have a problem with Zeke the janitor.”

“I don’t have problems with zombies,” Buffy said defensively. “It’s...well...everyone everywhere? I mean, especially with how Shadyside reacts to anything ‘different.’”

“I just thought that we’d see more zombies,” Jonah said, eating his fries. “I mean, whenever my family passes Zombietown, I can hear this different kind of music, totally not Shadyside vibe, but I thought it sounded cool. Kinda wish the music department could have a few of them so they could teach us.”

“Which is exactly why they won’t be there,” Buffy said. “No matter how cool they are, or how nice they seem, people are not going to allow them a place at the table.”

“Seems kind of unfair,” Cyrus mumbled. He kept thinking back to T.J. and their conversation in the Zombie safe room. 

“Maybe it’s better...for their protection too,” Buffy gestured to some of the guys on the motocross team. They were known to be violent and were the loudest to complain when it was announced that zombies were going to start attending Grant High. “Who knows what those guys would do if a zombie came near.”

“Yeah…” Cyrus said. “It’s just…they’re not allowed to be in clubs or anything, or play sports...Buffy, when they didn’t have a girl’s team at the middle school, you forced your way into the boy’s team, and then made your own team after. Zombies should be allowed to do the same.”

“Maybe,” Buffy said. “Why are you thinking about that...wait, you’re thinking about the zombie boy from the safe room, aren’t you?”

Cyrus looked away slightly. “We had a good talk. He was nice, and open...even a little playful and sweet. Nothing like what I thought they were like growing up. And I only had that because we were locked in a room in the dark for most of it so I didn’t know he was a zombie until, like, right before you guys got me.”

Buffy frowned, doing the math in her head while Andi and Jonah listened intently. “Maybe we just need to get more people and zombies to talk to each other,” Jonah said.

“If that was even possible…” Buffy sighed. 

* * *

“Alright, everyone, line up!” The coach called out and T.J. slipped his way into the end of the line. “Welcome to basketball tryouts. Once I dismiss everyone here, you’re all going to get changed, and we’re going to start with laps...except the zombie.” 

“What?!” T.J. groaned and everyone looked at him supsiciously and he took a deep breath. “I’m fine, I’m fine. I’m just...why not?”

“Vice Principal Lee said you guys weren’t even allowed to leave the basement, didn’t she tell you guys that?”

“Um...I don’t recall that she did…” he said slowly, and the coach looked at him skeptically. 

“Look, this isn't even me. I’m not a trailblazer, I’m a follower, and I’m following the rules. I’m sorry, kid. But no.” 

T.J. sighed and started walking away, passing by the girl’s team, who were already starting to get on the court. He recognized one girl as Cyrus’s friend. She looked at him skeptically, and he tried to give a friendly smile, but he was too bummed out about being cut from the basketball tryouts before he got to show them all his abilities. 

He slowly made his way back down to the basement, where Marty and Lenni were having some argument about music. “T.J.! Thank god, another zombie with actual taste!” Lenni said, calling him over. “Please tell him that music in actual zombie are far superior to any little Taylor Swift thing.”

“Why do you hate on Taylor so much?” Marty asked. 

“I listen to all music,” T.J. mumbled, sitting down and looking at the ground. Lenni and Marty shared a look and then scooted closer to him.

“Basketball?” Marty asked. 

“Coach didn’t even let me show him I could play.”

“Zombiephobia is real,” Lenni said. “I’m sorry dude. But…”

“You expected that to happen, didn’t you?” T.J. sighed. “I just...I thought maybe now that we’re in a human school...kind of…things would be different.” 

“I’m sorry, Teej. Maybe...things will change the more the humans get to know us?” Marty offered. Lenni scoffed and he glared at her. 

“I mean...yeah, maybe one day.”

* * *

Cyrus was walking home with Jonah, Andi, and Buffy after baseball and basketball practices, and Jonah was talking about the guys on his baseball team. 

“Yeah, all the sophomores were huddled up, whispering and snickering...is it normal to get a bad feeling about this?” 

“I get bad feelings about everything,” Cyrus said. “So maybe I’m maybe not the best person to compare notes with.”

“If you’re getting a bad feeling, maybe you should say something to someone,” Andi said. “Like the coach?”

“He was purposefully looking away. You can tell because any time he’d look like he was about to look at them, he’d turn away instantly.”

“Ah, complicity. The life of the privileged,” Buffy sighed. “Hey...is that the baseball team’s van?” 

They all watched the van drive into Zombietown and Cyrus’s heart went to the pit of his stomach. “They’re going to do something to the zombies. Should we stop them?”

Buffy frowned, hesitating before she nodded. “Come on.” She grabbed Cyrus’s arm and Jonah’s shoulder and they followed her into Zombietown. 

Cyrus had to do a double take while he was in there. The sky was already dark, and the place was run down. The roads had never been paved since the barriers went up, the houses never been repainted, and everything looked like it had to be patched up with things from the junkyard. However, there was a certain charm to everything, like how most houses had Christmas lights around the doors and windows, and since there wasn’t enough water to grow real plants, there were cactuses planted everywhere to bring a little green to the place. 

But Cyrus barely got to fully appreciate the otherworldly mix of desolation and charm because Buffy and Jonah had marched their way over to the van. “What do you think you’re doing?” 

“Beck, never thought you’d want to join us,” the captain said from the steering wheel. 

“I’m not, Kip. What’s going on?” 

“Just a little initiation for some of our newer members, and reminding zombies of their place here in Shadyside.”

Jonah’s eyes had pure unadulterated rage in his eyes, and he took the carton of eggs Kip held. “This isn’t right. They’re just trying to live their lives.”

“They’re zombies. They don’t have lives. They’re the undead.”

“That’s not how zombies work and you know it.” 

“Look, you’re either with us...or with them,” he said. “Pick carefully, Beck.”

He was about to say more when an older zombie woman came up to the other window. “You kids look lost.”

The team in the van screamed and sped off, leaving the four friends to panic and hide in someone’s yard. They heard the door open and someone come out looking. “Son, do you see anything?!” Someone inside the house called. Cyrus looked up and he saw T.J. look around quickly before making eye contact with him, and then glance down at the carton of eggs Jonah was now holding. His face fell a little, looking dissapointed. 

“No dad...all clear.” He went back inside the house and closed the door. Cyrus wanted to throw up from shame, from the way T.J. looked at him. 

“That face...it was like he was used to it…” Cyrus said. 

“They must face stuff like this all the time,” Andi said quietly. “I mean, the way Kip talked…”

“This isn’t right,” Buffy said. “Nobody deserves this treatment.”

“I never really thought about how bad they have it,” Cyrus said. “I mean...look at this place. It’s Shadyside’s scraps.”

“We’re not taking a part of this abuse,” Jonah said, and he threw the carton into the trash closest to him. “And I say, we stop it whenever we can.”

“Agreed.”

* * *

“I really thought he was different,” T.J. said, walking into the basement class the next morning. “It’s just...that conversation we had…”

“I’m sorry dude,” Marty said, putting his arm around his friend. “Life sucks.”

“Well, now I know better.” He went into the room and put his bag down next to his chair and took out his textbook and a pencil. 

“Alright, let’s do some math, I guess...uh...how much math did you guys do before?” The janitor, now their teacher, asked. 

“Um...we’re all different?” Lenni snarked. 

“Well, hey! Hey! No human students in the zombie room!”

Everyone turned around and T.J. saw Cyrus standing at the door, wearing light pink and nervously holding the strap of his messenger bag. “Oh...I was sent down here because someone threw up in the cafeteria…” 

“Right…” the teacher sighed. “Still the janitor.” 

Cyrus watched all the zombies eye him suspiciously. T.J. got up and went up to Cyrus, trying to look intimidating enough for him to know not to mess with them, but not enough to be threatned. “So…” Cyrus said. “This is the classroom? This place is…”

“Paradise? Heaven?”

“Horrible,” Cyrus said. “They really expect you to learn in these conditions?” 

“Well, we would have cleaned up for you, but our only teacher is quite territorial over the mop,” Marty said. 

“Are you really here to just get the janitor?” T.J. asked. 

“No…I’m also here to apologize. You see…it was actually a bunch of other guys who were planning on egging your house, which is totally not okay in the slightest. We were stopping them.”

“Oh...well, thanks.” His whole demeanor softened and he smiled shyly. 

“You know, the spirit week parade is happening during third period. You guys should totally come. It’ll be fun!” 

“Um...thanks, Cyrus.” T.J. smiled and met his eyes, and Cyrus’s smile started to match his.

“Hey, um… Cyrus, right?” Marty jumped in, seeing his best friend grow hearts in his eyes. “Hey, you should...uh...go, before we all get in trouble.”

“Right! Right, okay. So...parade?” 

“Maybe…” 

Cyrus waved shyly and left the basement again, and everyone started murmuring. 

“Don’t tell me you people actually want to go?” Kira said, standing up. “Obviously the humans are setting us up! Have none of you seen Carrie?”

“Kira, it was one kid telling us the parade would be fun,” T.J. said. She narrowed her eyes at him and came closer. 

“Come on, babe, don’t you trust me?”

“Not your babe, and not as far as I can throw you,” he said plainly. “It’s like you want humans to hate us.”

“And you just want to bow down to them?”

“I want their respect...their trust…”

“T.J. Kippen, that will literally never happen. We’re monsters.”

“We’re not monsters!” Marty interrupted, and several zombies backed him up. “Being different is not being a monster.”

“We are monsters, and we should be proud that we are! Monsters are stronger, better, faster, and smarter than humans.”

“Kira, shut the hell up,” Lenni snapped. “You don’t want to go to the parade, simple solution. Don’t go. If you guys want to go to the parade, then go.” 

**********************

“And somehow you convinced me to come here,” Lenni said, rolling her eyes as T.J. and Marty walked her and some other zombies to the sidelines. 

“I thought that for our first spirit parade would be more fun with friends,” T.J. said. “And Marty has been dying to see the track team.” 

“Supposedly, they run a lap before the race to show off how good they are,” he said. “I think I could beat them.” 

Several humans started muttering, seeing the zombies, and scooted away. On the other side of the street, Cyrus stood with his friends, the same friends he saw last night, and a blonde cheerleader who looked older than them. 

Grant parades were well known for one thing, actual cars for floats that went up to 20 miles an hour, making it a little more exciting, and having more time for more parade floats. The whole city got in on it, except for Zombietown, of course. 

All the humans on the same side of the streets as the zombies were murmuring amongst themselves, pointing and glaring at them. Chet, one of the guys T.J. plays pickup with in Zombietown, moved closer to them. 

“Garagaz raska zar zeor,” he muttered. 

“Yeah, they’re staring because they hate us,” Lenni said, translating his Zombie Tongue words. 

“But that’s just because they don’t know us yet,” T.J. said. He didn’t see some guys in baseball letterman jackets whisper to each other before slipping away, and neither did anyone else. 

“Do you think Kira was right about the humans planning something?” Lenni asked T.J.

“I don’t think they had anything planned in advance,” he said. “Or else, it would have happened already. 

He kept his eyes on Cyrus, watching the way he was awkward and weirdly comfortable with his friends, dancing awkwardly to the music of the marching band. He smiled, thinking about how he would love to run over and jump in, dancing with them. Except his friend Buffy was still skeptical about zombies, and everyone else would probably send him to Containment for thinking he was a rogue zombie about to eat Cyrus’s brains. Except he wouldn’t. He never would. 

The parade was picking up speed, and everyone was enjoying themselves, some people forgetting that zombies exist next to them, or just actively ignoring them. Even the zombies were having fun, watching all the different parade floats go by, all of them perfect pastel pinks and blues, with members of the marching band standing on bleachers set up behind the streets playing music. 

And then, things went horribly, horribly wrong. 

One thing to know about zombies is that, although they were actively fighting it and training themselves out of it, they have an innate, instinctive fear of fire. Some were better at holding themselves together than others. So when the baseball team came back with Roman Candles, they got to find out firsthand who the ones in control were. 

Lenni was nervous around fire, but could hold her own, T.J. was fine, Marty was a little jumpy but otherwise okay...and Chet was not fine at all. He started screaming, trying to get away from the flames as the team laughed, and he knocked T.J. over to the ground, Z-Band first, knocking it loose and making it unstable. 

His veins started growing dark, and his eyes redder. His voice even turned more into a growl, though he could still process all of his thoughts and control his actions over his instincts. But his senses were heightened, and he saw something the baseball team had completely overlooked. 

Fireworks tend to go out of control easily. And they went out of control to the other side, exploding on the other side, causing mass panic. Especially one panic that sent Cyrus stumbling to the middle of the street right before another car going 20 miles per hour. 

T.J. didn’t know much about human biology, but he knew enough to know that it would not be good. Here he acted on instinct, and still zombied out, he got up and ran, using his heightened speed and strength to grab Cyrus around his waist and pick him up, rushing him back to his side of the road safely, still in his arms. Miraculously, by the time Cyrus got to get a look at him, his Z-Band kicked in and he was back to normal. 

“Hi again.”

“Hi…”

“Are you okay?” 

“Yeah...thanks to you,” Cyrus breathed out. “Thank you.” 

T.J. would say more, but the basketball coach grabbed him by the shoulders. “Kid, you’ve got to come with me!”

* * *

“Cyrus, oh my god!” Buffy hugged him as soon as T.J. was taken away by the coach. 

“I’m fine. I’m completely fine now,” he said. “I’m just…I’m really lucky he saved me.” 

“Yeah, you are,” Andi said. “I’m really grateful for him.”

“So am I,” Buffy said. “Do you think he’s in trouble?”

“I mean...maybe? He did end up tackling a few people and technically wasn’t supposed to be out here because it’s not the basement,” Andi said.

“Oh god…I got him in trouble.”

“It’s okay Cy-Guy, I’m sure it’s fine,” Jonah said. “It’s not your fault.” 

* * *

T.J. left the administration building feeling euphoric. He wasn’t taken to see Vice Principal Lee… he was taken in to see the head honcho himself, Principal Metcalf. He was stern, but he seemed accepting of zombies, even shaking his hand. He had a conversation with him and the coach, and they came up with the most amazing agreement! 

The basketball team had been on the biggest losing streak for almost ten years, but the coach was absolutely impressed with how T.J. was able to deftly grab Cyrus and move around and tackle other people, so they offered him a position on the team! And, he got them to agree to slowly integrating the school fully with zombies with each win. And he got them the first thing on the list as a good faith effort. 

“T.J., I can’t believe you did it,” Marty said, putting his hand on his shoulder as they were led into the cafeteria. “Human cafeteria. We can eat, EAT, in the human cafeteria!” 

All the humans were staring at them, groaning and complaining about sharing their eating space with monsters, but the zombies ignored it as they scouted out three cafeteria tables near the trash cans for themselves. “We have a real place to eat, on school grounds!” Lenni said. “You’re making progress for us!”

“And all I’ve got to do is play a little basketball...and win a little basketball...No big deal, right?” He made eye contact with Cyrus, smiling as he passed them and sat down at the table, entering an easy conversation with his friends while freaking out about finally getting some respect. 

He saw Cyrus talk to his friends excitedly and grab his phone, looking up something before he went up to the zombie table. “Hi, T.J. Thanks again for saving me.”

“Of course. Oh, uh, guys, this is Cyrus. Cyrus, this is Lenni and Marty.”

“Nice to meet you guys, I just wanted to say gazar nady garzane garsick,” he said proudly in zombie, looking at all of their faces of bemusement. “I looked it up on the internet.”

“Um...you just thanked me for rubbing peanut butter on your umbrella,” T.J. said with a little laugh. 

“Oh...I meant to say welcome to the cafeteria,” he said slightly embarrassed. 

“It’s okay. Thank you for the effort though,” he said. “A little humor in our day.”

“Cyrus!” The girls behind him were calling him. 

“I...uh...I’ll go check in with them, I guess,” he said. “I’ll see you around,” he promised, walking away smiling. T.J. didn’t know he was smiling like an idiot until Lenni poked him in the cheek. 

“You need to be careful.”

“What are you talking about?”

“T.J., we’ve known you our entire lives...we know those eyes of yours,” Marty said. “Just be careful. Humans and zombies together are...unheard of.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for reading guys! Please, comment your thoughts on this chapter! Pretty pretty please!!! Also, I’m going through a tough time, so please help me bring out more content by donating to my ko-fi!!! Any little bit helps!
> 
> https://ko-fi.com/mermagicanalily


	3. Chapter 3

Cyrus walked out of the cafeteria, stealing another look back at T.J. His friends called him back from the zombie table and pulled him down for a serious conversation. They were warning him about how other people would react. 

“You know we’ll love you no matter what Cyrus,” Buffy said. “But these guys around us, are not so friendly with anyone who’s different. Not to mention...you know, zombie?”

“He’s really nice, and people should give him a chance. They should give everyone a chance.”

“We agree,” Andi said. “But...you told us yesterday that you want to keep a low profile.”

“Yeah, but about the...you know…”

“Cyrus…” Buffy looked him dead in the eyes. She could read him better than he could read himself sometimes. “We obviously won’t ever tell anyone, but…maybe you need to tell yourself something.”

Cyrus looked at her, then back at T.J., feeling his heart skip a beat and he understood what she was implying. “I…I need a minute.” He grabbed his backpack and left at that moment, going to the vending machine on the catwalk. He spied his favorite coping snack, a chocolate chocolate chip muffin, and started digging around for the wallet in his bag. 

But somebody else put a dollar into the machine. “Pick the number.” 

Cyrus turned around and saw T.J. 's smiling face and it took everything he had not to let his face turn completely red. “T.J., hey…”

“Hey,” he smiled. “So…?” 

“Right! The snack,” Cyrus blushed a little and selected the muffin. 

“Not umbrella peanut butter?” T.J. teased lightly. 

“It’s not my fault that the word for cafeteria and umbrella are so similar in Old Zombie Tongue,” he laughed. “Anyways, I should apologize about how my friends were back there. They just…”

“They want to protect you from the big, mean, scary, brain-eating zombie?”

“No, they know you don’t eat people, and that you’re not mean. Big however is a bit difficult to disprove at the moment.”

He laughed a little. “And that part is completely unrelated to zombie, considering you could probably tower over Lenni if you just stop slouching.”

“Yeah...but they just...this place doesn’t really…”

“Yeah, they don’t like zombies or anyone who associates with them, huh?” He said. “But, maybe things will get better. I’m on the basketball team, I got us eating in the cafeteria, and Metcalf promised that the more wins I rack up, the more integrated he’ll make the school.”

“I’m glad things are going well for you in the school now, or at least better,” Cyrus said, unwrapping the muffin and eating bites, offering some to T.J. “This town doesn’t know how to handle different.”

“Well, there’s nothing different about you,” T.J. said, adjusting the strap of his backpack. “You’re...you’re perfect.” 

Cyrus looked up into his blue eyes, a million thoughts racing in his head, most of them regarding the best way to describe the exact color those eyes were and how they looked perfect with the light red rimming around his eyes and the green hair, despite what people might think. Then, he decided to go for it. “I’m gay...actually. I know what it’s like to be different because other than my parents, you are officially the fourth person to know.”

“Really?” He smiled lightly, Cyrus had to hold himself back from touching that cheek. 

“Yeah. Gay is also considered different here, and not a good different...well, no different is good different. I just…”

“I get it,” T.J. said. 

“Right...zombie.”

“Yes, also…”

“Wait…”

“Yeah,” he chuckled lightly. “Me too. At least one I can cover up for now, huh?” He said. 

“Wow...you still found a way to one-up me,” Cyrus joked nervously. Holy crap. This beautiful, perfect zombie was ALSO GAY? 

“It’s not about that,” he said. “I just…Shadyside needs to learn how to handle the side of me that I have no way of keeping from them. I mean…I’m not ashamed of being gay. I just...don’t feel safe expressing it yet.”

“Yeah, I get the feeling,” Cyrus said, gently touching T.J.’s arm. “I’m not ashamed either. But...I’m probably not gonna do anything while I’m here. In a way, I’m kind of glad that you guys are here. Takes some scrutiny off the human outcasts.”

“Glad to be your scapegoat.”

“No! Wait...that’s not what I meant!” Before he could continue, the bell rang and he knew that the halls would start filling up again. 

“I’ve got free period?”

“Me too,” he said. “Only after this period I have real class.” 

T.J. smiled and moved the arm Cyrus was holding so that instead, they were holding hands. “Come on, I have an idea.”

* * *

“Really T.J.?” Cyrus laughed as T.J. pulled him into the Zombie Safe Room. “Here?”

He closed the door behind them before pursing his lips. “It’s a place where everyone else is locked out, nobody comes in here...and...it’s where we first met.”

“Where I fell on my ass?”

“Where I had a real conversation with a human who didn’t immediately judge me because of who I am,” T.J. said, taking Cyrus’s hand again. “Because maybe that’s all we zombies really need. Not this separation and treatments and...Zombie containment…”

“What’s that?”

“You don’t want to know,” T.J. said quickly. “Maybe we really need just a chance to prove that just because our initial ancestors did some undesirable things…”

“Killing people and eating brains?”

“You know the scientific reason for that, right?” T.J. asked. 

“Doesn’t it have to do with feeling human again?” Cyrus asked. “That’s what the papers my parents always read and write about are. They’re psychologists...all four of them. I know, married, divorced, and remarried with a very clear type.”

T.J. laughed a little. “Well, that’s...that’s the surface of it,” he said. “Brains send out natural, electric synapses and connections, and when the first zombies ate that, it temporarily helped with the synapses the mutation removed. That’s why Z-Bands work. It’s not like a diet supplement or anything.” 

“So then, why do you eat brain substitute? I’ve seen cans of it.”

“The slightly artificially flavored cauliflower? Which you could also eat because it’s just meat flavored cauliflower?” 

“Wait, that’s what that is?”

“Yeah. Cauliflower cooked alongside beef or chicken, and then with a couple of spices to taste. Add that as a side to any of your dishes and it would be fine for you guys too. We just also add a little bit of pink and grey food dye.”

“Oh...so you don’t need the brain substitute?”

“Nope. We eat normal food. The cauliflower was, at the beginning while zombies were transitioning from real brains to Z-Bands, just something to quell physical hunger cravings. Now? We eat it because it’s a traditional dish.” 

“Same way Brazilians eat beans and Jews eat latkes and kugel.”

“Pretty much,” T.J. said. “Probably not what they taught you, huh?”

Cyrus shook his head and sat on one of the cots lining the walls of the Zombie Safe Room. “We were given the impression that the Z-Bands zap you into behaving and the cauliflower brain substitute was carefully cultivated by scientists to have all the nutrients to suppress your hunger of humans.” 

“What a glorious misinformation campaign.”

“Which is why we’re warned about zombies. That one bad thing happens to your Z-Band, and it’s back into the apocalypse we go.” He got up and took out a manual from the wall of the safe room and gave it to T.J. “See?”

“Comes with zombie killing instructions. Lovely bedtime story,” he said. “The first zombies basically were humans with half their brains fried off from a mix of nuclear and lemon-lime soda, and they felt the need to replace what they lost. Brains don’t even do the job they needed. Now, full zombies are just purely instinct based. Without my Z-Band, rational thought is hard. It’s all feelings, emotions, and what I need to do to survive.” 

“You know what you’re like without your Z-Band?” Cyrus asked, slightly worried. 

“Every year or so, we get an upgrade. For that, it’s absolutely humiliating. You put your arms in these metal stocks-like things, and get your band removed. Because of bureaucracy, we’re stuck in those stocks for like, twenty or thirty minutes, until the Z Patrol puts the new bands on us, then we have to hang out for at least 10 more minutes in another room until they see we’re good enough to be allowed into society. I’ve been a full zombie at least once a year since I was born for about 30 minutes.” 

“How does it feel? Like...I don’t even know how I could imagine that.”

“It’s like...here, close your eyes.” Cyrus nodded and did that, holding T.J.’s hand in one hand, and his fingers gently running over the Z-Band with his other hand. “Imagine all of your thoughts have been shut off. I’m talking the ones constantly running in the back of your mind worrying about some thing that isn’t important to you right that second. The only things that matter is surviving. Food, water, safety. You want to travel with a pack so that you feel that safety, and now that brains are basically out of the equation, you’re hungry, so you look for food. What people don’t know is that zombies are much more dangerous to the produce aisle at the grocery store when they’re full zombie than to actual other people.”

“But you guys still wear the bands and are careful not to go full zombie, right?”

“That’s different.”

“Really?” 

“Yeah. Because full zombie isn’t a danger to humans in that we want to kill them and eat their brains...but, we’re a lot stronger. Because parts of our brains are closed off, everything else is heightened. We’re at least five times stronger than humans, three times faster, and we don’t have the background thoughts in our head to know how to control our speed and strength. And since the part of our brain that can talk is severely restricted…”

“Broca's area…” T.J. looked at him weirdly. “Child of four physiologists, remember. I knew parts of the brain before I knew Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes.” 

“Sorry,” he laughed, watching Cyrus’s eyes crinkle with every giggle. He liked that giggle. “Well, because that is severely restricted, we couldn’t communicate with humans about what’s going on. That’s actually how Zombie Tongue was created at first. And over time, the language evolved to be quite complex and beautiful. Did you know we have twenty three words that mean brain?”

“That’s pretty cool. My parents would love that language. More ways to explain how their studies work,” he laughed. “There is so much more to zombies than I ever thought possible.”

“We might be different species now, but we do come from humans,” T.J. said. “And biting doesn’t turn people into a zombie. We’re genetic, not viral.” 

“So, if you bit me, which I know you’re not…” 

“It would have the exact same effects if you bit me...or another human bit you. Maybe an ugly mark and a long explanation. A fate much worse than turning into a zombie.”

“Seems like the only real problem with zombies is institutional racism,” Cyrus said. 

“Well, not our only problems,” T.J. said. “But I’d go with 90% of it.” 

“Could you imagine getting rid of that prejudice?” Cyrus said.

“Yeah...I know it might be crazy, but did you hear the story?”

“I think I heard it vaguely.”

“A boy and a zombie…”

“What could be so wrong with a boy and a zombie?” Cyrus flirted slightly. 

“You’re from the perfect paradise, and I’m living on the darker side.”

“I’ve got a feeling things would change if you got to know me.”

“Boy, you look delicious, oh…I mean gorgeous.”

“Now you’re getting fearless,” Cyrus teased and gave him a little nudge. 

“Maybe, I’m just rooting for us?” T.J. said. 

“Maybe I am too,” he squeezed his hand and smiled. “Someday, this could be ordinary.”

“You and me side by side?”

“Under broad daylight,” Cyrus said. “And maybe my friends can’t picture it now, and others laugh, but I say, we’re gonna be someday.”

“We say,” T.J. corrected. “We’re gonna be someday.” 

Cyrus smiled. “Can’t wait. And, I want to help however I can. How can I?”

“Just...be yourself,” he said. “And signs would probably help too. I’ve got a basketball game tomorrow. And I’m *dying* to see your puns,” he said, mimicking a Hollywood zombie as a joke. Cyrus laughed, bumping shoulders with T.J. 

“Without knowing your name. I like a challenge,” he said. “When do you think I could learn that crucial information?”

“Not even Marty and Lenni know, and they’ve literally known me since diapers. Only people with the last name Kippen know my name.”

“Did you just flirt my goal to me?” 

T.J. blushed, and rubbed the back of his neck. “That’s not…”

“I know,” he teased. “But for now, just T.J. will do...and I will find the perfect pun to hold up at the game for you.”

“If you’re not worried…” 

“I’ll hang it anonymously,” he said. “Just, look for the one with a green and blue frame. That one’s mine.” 

The bell rang and they instinctively looked up at the ceiling. “I’ve got History.”

“And I’ve got whatever the janitor was able to quickly skim for lunch,” T.J. said. “Four wins and we’ll be in human classrooms. Yes there’s a timeline.”

“I hope you bring all the victories to the basketball team then.”

* * *

Cyrus was groaning through the first half of the basketball game. He might not have understood a single thing that was happening on the court, but he knew it was not good. Not at all. “They’re so…I mean, I can see the numbers aren’t good, and nobody is protecting T.J. I think some of our own teammates actually shoved him themselves.”

“It’s a zombie on the court, Cyrus. Nobody is happy,” Buffy said.

“They don’t need to be happy. They need to deal with this. The world is changing, and they need to change with it.”

“What happened between you and him?” Jonah asked

“We...we got to talk, and connect, and see that we have a lot more in common than people would think, just because we’re a human and a zombie.”

“What do you mean a lot more in common?” Andi asked. 

“Wait, is he…?” Buffy asked, sitting up straighter.

“We have *that* exact thing in common,” Cyrus said. “That three letter word featured in a Christmas carol, the word that also means happy…”

“Because you’re also feeling happy?” Andi asked with a light smile. Buffy just furrowed her brows in worry. 

“But...the only thing keeping him in control is a metal bracelet. What if it falls off?” She asked. 

“Actually, he explained everything to me. Basically, nobody who’s full zombie actually wants brains anymore.”

“He goes full zombie!”

“They have to for Z-Band updates,” Cyrus said. “So that the old one can be removed and the new, updated one put on? It makes total sense.”

“Oh,” she said. “So, he knows what he’s like as a full zombie. What is it?”

“Just, running on pure instincts. No anxieties bogging you down, no over complicating things, just…eat, sleep, drink, survive.”

“And the brain eating? They still eat fake brains, don’t they?” Jonah asked, looking queasy at the thought. 

“It’s just cauliflower with meat flavoring. If you’ve ever eaten beef with cauliflower with a main meat, you’ve officially eaten Cauli-Brains.”

“But it’s...pink…”

“And you ate bright purple snickerdoodles Amber made us last week,” Cyrus said. 

“Oh.”

“So, if they don’t need it, why do they eat it all the time?”

“Same reason most places eat the food they do, and the opening song to Fiddler on the Roof. Tradition.” 

“You’re quite the zombie expert now,” Buffy said. 

“Turns out all you have to do is listen when they talk to you.”

********************

“How are they still losing?!” Cyrus groaned. “Nobody is helping T.J.!” 

“Not until he scores.”

“He can’t score without help!”

“Exactly,” Buffy said. 

T.J. later looked at the coach, who made a temporary substitution while the two had a heated, hushed discussion. He looked panicked for a second, looking at all the zombie spectators who were in the back of some bleachers. Then when the coach walked away slightly to talk to other players, T.J. looked up again to the stands, seeing and making eye contact with Cyrus again. It looked like he was looking for a sign to do something. Cyrus didn’t know what he should do, so he just gave him a friendly smile. 

That seemed to do the trick because he went to the bench, where his friend Marty was sitting right behind, and the two had their own heated argument, with T.J. gesturing everywhere and Marty keeping his arms crossed until T.J. said something that made him pause, and uncross his arms. He then pulled out a tablet from his bag, an old one that seemed to have gone through at least fifty different patch jobs, and started fiddling with it. 

“I wonder what they’re doing?” 

Buffy followed Cyrus’s gaze at the other zombie. “Who’s that?”

“His friend Marty. His friend Lenni is over on the bleachers there,” he said, pointing her out. Finally, T.J. stopped talking to Marty, giving him a quick hug before heading out back to the court, and being substituted again to be back on the court. Some people started booing him as he went back out. Cyrus saw T.J. tense up a little, then finally get the ball. Except now, he was playing more aggressively, and he didn’t need his teammates to defend him. 

He was able to make 2 and 3 pointers more, and the only way that Cyrus knew he was throwing those was by looking up at the scoreboard and seeing how they changed. He started cheering for each point made, smiling every time T.J. looked up in his direction. Buffy was cheering as well, but watching the way Cyrus looked every time he and T.J. made eye contact. 

They ended up winning the game and Cyrus went out to the hallway, where T.J. met up with him and hugged him. “You were amazing! I mean, even I could tell that you were doing amazing! So objectively you were amazing!”

“Thanks, Cy!” He laughed, hugging him. “I also loved your sign! ‘The Jock leaves everyone else dead on court!’ Even though zombies aren’t dead…”

“I was a little pressed on time,” he said. “But the next one will be much, much better, I promise,” he said. “So...more rights for zombies?”

“This win got fences removed, and a real English teacher,” he said. “Which means we’ll finally read good books. This is amazing!”

“It’s only going to get better Teej, and I can’t wait to be here while things get better!” 


	4. Chapter 4

T.J. kept winning more and more games, and slowly, more humans started approaching zombies. They weren’t ready to be friends, but they were asking for his autograph for finally starting a winning streak at school. Even as zombies were allowed in human classes and among human students, even finally getting their own lockers, humans and zombies still ran in separate circles.

It was still looked down on slightly to be friends with zombies, though it wasn’t a bad thing to be seen with one, so Cyrus was able to get to talk to T.J. more. They still snuck into into the Zombie Safe Room during the day and got to have real deep conversations and get to know each other better. T.J. loved learning about Cyrus, and all the little things that he told him. He talked through and helped Cyrus do a somersault after he told him that he was never able to do one since childhood. 

“I just wish my friends were more open about meeting and hanging out with zombies,” Cyrus said one day. “They’re too worried about standing out from the crowds here at Shadyside.”

“I get it,” T.J. said. “Things are only changing for us inside the school. Outside, things are still the same. I mean...lots of places are still ‘Humans Only.’”

“That’s stupid,” Cyrus said. “Maybe if we could all hang out outside of school, they might get to like you guys.” 

T.J. furrowed his brow a little and then lit up with a bright smile. “Let’s do that, if you’re ready to have the best party of your life?”

“Party?” Cyrus asked intrigued. T.J. pulled out a piece of paper and a pen and wrote down an address after looking it up and copying it exactly from his phone. 

“Here, bring your friends here tonight. This is going to be epic.”

********************

“Are you sure about this, Cyrus?” Buffy asked skeptically. 

“A party in Zombietown?” Jonah continued her thought. 

“T.J. said this would be fun. And I trust T.J.” 

“You’re really trusting,” Andi said, standing at the gates of zombie town. Soon, a green haired figure popped out and started jogging towards them. Buffy got in a defensive stance until Cyrus tapped her elbow. It was T.J. 

“You guys made it!” He said with a smile. 

“Is this...safe?” Andi asked. 

“Safe, yes. Allowed? Iffy,” he admitted. 

“So why do you do it if you’re not even sure it’s allowed?” Buffy frowned, crossing her arms. 

“Well, we’re not allowed to go to any other movie theater than the one in Zombietown, that closes at four. We’re not allowed to go to concerts or professional sports games, we’re not allowed to be in or host local theater, have nightclubs, go to nightclubs…”

“Are you guys allowed to do anything?” Jonah asked. 

“There’s no explicit rule banning the party here,” he said. “So, we’ll take it.” 

“Okay, maybe a little fun isn’t a bad thing,” Jonah said, trying to calm Buffy down. “I’m down.”

“I’ll give it a try,” Andi said with a smile. 

“You sure it’s all okay?” Cyrus asked T.J. quietly, who nodded. “Then, let’s have a party.” T.J. smiled and took his hand, leading them all to the old nuclear power plant.

“You’re kidding,” Buffy said. “Isn’t this the old power plant? Birthplace of zombie kind?” 

“Yeah, but it’s completely fine now. Z-Patrol checked everything. It’s all clean,” he said. “So we added a bit of graffiti and other artwork, a couple folks made some speakers and stuff, and we now have an actual place to party here.” He led them all into an elevator and pulled down the door so that the elevator started going up. 

“So...what’s the vibe here?” Jonah asked. 

“Music, dancing, different bands and DJs playing their stuff, dance crews showing their stuff off...honestly, no real structure or organization, but it all comes together and it’s absolutely the best thing we have here,” he said. “And we’ve got snacks and stuff too because dancing and fun works up an appetite.”

“Uh...Cauliflower brains?” Jonah asked. 

“Well, it’s more of a that inside a cheesy dip, but we also have regular salsa, guacamole, queso, brownies…” T.J. listed.

“Really?”

“Yeah, plus sodas and stuff to drink,” he smirked. “You really know nothing about zombies, do you?”

“We know what our families told us,” Buffy said. “They wouldn’t lie to us.”

“I’d say they wouldn’t lie knowingly,” he said. “This misinformation and fear’s been around since zombies showed up.” 

“There was kind of an apocalypse of sorts,” Buffy said. “Zombies going around killing humans…”

“Zombies used to be humans. Those zombies were affected by the accident, and filled with pure instinct and confusion,” T.J. said. “We’ve evolved. We’re better now.”

“Because of the Z-Band.”

“Z-Band fills in synaptic gaps that were destroyed in the initial accident,” he said. “It lets us organize those thoughts so we’re not completely on instinct, and it also altered so that our instincts are different.”

“So, if you took off your Z-Band, you wouldn’t try to go for brains?”

“No, I’d probably go for the taco station there,” he said, pointing at the taco building station that was created in the corner. 

“T.J.!” Lenni ran up to him. “And humans…” 

“Cyrus and friends,” T.J. said. 

“Hello Cyrus and friends,” Lenni greeted quickly, eyeing them weirdly. “Zeke got sick. Food poisoning.”

“What?! No!” T.J. groaned. “Now we can’t perform.”

“You were performing?” Cyrus asked, lighting up a bit. 

“Yeah, we brought all of our stuff yesterday. We’re a band, and our lead guitarist is too sick to go on.”

“His guitar is here?” Jonah asked. “Because...if you have your songs written down, and give me, like, a five minute rundown, I guess I could help out.” 

“Wait, legit?!” Lenni looked him up and down before grabbing his arm. “With me, human!”

“Jonah!”

“Jonah!” She took him away to a back room. Andi and Cyrus watched and laughed lightly while Buffy continued scanning and assessing T.J., specifically the way he interacted with Cyrus. He seemed open and relaxed around him, while also trying to show his best self. 

“I’m going to introduce you guys to my buddy Marty,” he said, waving over another zombie. He saw T.J. and started jogging over. “He’ll hang out with you guys while I’m up with my band.”

“Hey, Cyrus. How’s your umbrella?”

“You guys are never going to let me live that down, are you?” He said, blushing a little. He then looked over at Buffy with an expression promising to explain it to her later. 

“Sorry, and you’re…”

“Andi,” she introduced herself. 

“Awesome,” he turned over to Buffy and his smile changed from a friendly one to a...different one. It seemed relaxed and tense in a weird way. The same way Cyrus used to look at Jonah. Cyrus immediately became more intrigued and started watching the interaction between the two, because Buffy’s demeanor also changed. She looked even more confident than usual, like she had to prove herself now. “Do I know you?”

“You would know if you knew me,” she said back. 

“What have you done that’s so great that I would know you?” He challenged. 

“What haven’t I done?”

“I’m gonna say…” he frowned and looked her over. “You haven’t eaten a live frog.”

“Have you?”

“Yes,” he smirked, and Buffy had to match that look, almost involuntarily. 

“Why would you eat a live frog?”

“He mouthed off.”

She laughed and looked him over again. “You never ate a live frog.”

“Of course not! You’re just making conversation very difficult.” 

“I’m just here for my friend,” she said, putting her hand on Cyrus’s shoulder. 

“So am I,” he said, giving T.J. a personalized handshake. 

“Marty,” T.J. said. “When you’re done turning conversation into a competition. Mind sticking around with these three? Lenni is going to eat my brain if I don’t go in there and help our new temporary band mate learn the song.”

“What happened to Zeke?”

“Food poisoning. One of the humans is helping out. Jonah. You’ll meet him later,” he said. “Take good care of them.”

“Or you’ll eat my brain,” Marty rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah.” 

T.J. gave Cyrus one last smile. “You’re gonna enjoy this.” He started jogging off to where Lenni and Jonah disappeared to. Marty looked around at the three friends. 

“You guys look nervous.”

“We’re in a zombie party, and we stick out like sore thumbs since we’re wearing bright colors and don’t have green hair.”

“Well, now you know how we feel at school,” he countered. “Green hair is hard to hide. But you guys have nothing to worry about. We don’t hate humans. We hate the system of oppression.” 

“No zombie hates humans?” Buffy asked, disbelieving.

“Okay, 99 percent of zombies don’t hate humans. We all have our black sheep.”

“So...now what?” Cyrus asked, and then the lights went really low. 

“Just enjoy. This is gonna be cool.” Smoke started filling the room and he looked at their worried faces. “Fog machines. This is a show.” They saw T.J., Lenni, and Jonah, who stood out wearing light blue, going to their places on the stage, and then some zombies moving around in stilted, stereotypical movements, looking like they came out of a horror movie. Music started playing, mostly Lenin’s drumbeat, and they started dancing around. Then T.J. looked up and started to half rap, half sing.

_ “Hey, welcome to Zombieland, _

_ It’s a party go ahead,  _

_ Do the draggy leg,  _

_ You can surely be a part of the team, _

_ Gotta wave the flag _

_ Let your freak flag fly _

_ Gotta stare when we pass by _

_ Not your average guy _

_ But you know I'm fly _

_ So alive just on a different side _

_ Look in my eyes _

_ We're the same but different _

_ Just like you I got hopes and wishes _

_ Itchin' to show the world what they're missing _

_ It's our time, yeah, it's time to flip it what.” _

He smiled and turned closer to Lenni, starting a banter with her. “ _ I'm about to show you.” _

_ “What you gon' show me?”  _ She countered playfully. 

_ “Guess nobody told you.” _

_ “You ain't gotta tell me.” _

_ “I'm about to put in work.”  _

_ “Listen this is my turf!”  _ She said, and they all hit a hard beat, and they all started singing together, even Jonah, joining in a little quieter than everyone else.

_ “Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man, _

_ Bet ya can't do it like I can, _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, you a fan, _

_ Understand this is Zombieland. _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man _

_ Bet ya can't do it like I can _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man with the plan _

_ Lemme do my dance, Bamm!” _

_ “You're in Zombieland,”  _ T.J. took over as lead vocals again. “ _ I'm in Zombieland, _

_ We're in Zombieland _

_ Watch me do it like Bamm  _

_ You're in Zombieland  _

_ I'm in Zombieland  _

_ We're in Zombieland _

_ Watch me do it like Bamm!”  _

Marty started dancing a complicated hip hop choreography with the music, one that lots of other zombies were doing as well, clearly a part of a dance that all of them seemed to learn together at some point in the past, and he smirked at Buffy. Of course, she took it as a challenge and she then did the steps exactly as he’d done it before. He was very clearly impressed with her, and half competed with her, and half showing her the moves so that she could really learn how to dance with a zombie. 

T.J. nudged Jonah to vocalize the next part solo, and Cyrus watched his two friends. Jonah seemed alive on that stage. He never really performed for people in Shadyside, and both T.J. and Lenni were cheering him on to be louder, prouder, and bolder, and he was taking it in stride. Buffy would probably deny it later, but she was having fun with Marty and the other zombies dancing around and learning new moves that the people of Shadyside would never really do. It was a whole new world, and Cyrus was seeing this new beauty. He was falling in love with Zombietown. He looked at the stage and his eyes settled on T.J., his hands flying effortlessly across his keyboard, smiling and bopping to the music. He was falling in love with a zombie. 

_ “Ready for action, yeah, we're 'bout to blow up,”  _ Lenni started rapping, drumming the beat along. “ _ Party's going down, _

_ But we're about to go up.” _

_ “We got your back,”  _ T.J. took over the rapping again. “ _ No need to have worries, _

_ Now we're all cool at first it was scurry, _

_ And we can do a lot with a little, _

_ Call on your friends when you're caught in the middle, _

_ And you should do the same like I do the same,”  _ T.J. found Cyrus in the audience and locked eyes on him, smiling and singing to only to him, simply allowing everyone else to also hear him. “ _ You should be yourself, it's the coolest thang.”  _

Cyrus’s heart skipped several beats, and it shouldn’t have been beating as loud as it was. It felt like T.J. was telling him that he was cool, and maybe, he was being honest. 

_ “I'm about to show you,”  _ Lenni set her sights on Jonah, who was already feeling more confident onstage, more at home, more comfortable with the song. 

_ “What you gon' show me?”  _ He rapped back. 

_ “Guess nobody told you.” _

_ “Girl, you don't know me.” _

_ “I'm about to put in work.” _

_ “Listen,”  _ T.J. took over the banter from the two. “ _ This is our turf!” _

At this point, Cyrus and Andi were singing and dancing along to the chorus, Cyrus dancing in his own weird way that showed off how much fun and how comfortable he was. The fact that he was dancing openly meant he was already feeling more comfortable. Everyone started singing the next chorus and dancing along.  _ “Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man _

_ Bet ya can't do it like I can _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, you a fan _

_ Understand this is Zombieland _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man _

_ Bet ya can't do it like I can _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man with the plan _

_ Lemme do my dance, Bamm.” _

T.J. took the mic in his hands and temporarily stopped playing the keyboard. “ _ You're in Zombieland! _

_ I'm in Zombieland! _

_ We're in Zombieland! _

_ Watch me do it like, Bamm!  _

_ You're in Zombieland!  _

_ I'm in Zombieland! _

_ We're in Zombieland! _

_ Watch me do it like Bamm!” _

Half the people were dancing the choreography, and the other half just jumping up and down to the rhythm. Buffy and Marty were dancing in time, facing each other, looking like they were competing, but Andi and Cyrus knew better, this was equivalent to Buffy waltzing with another guy. “ _ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man, Bet ya can't do it like I can!”  _ Everyone in the crowd started singing together, screaming out the lyrics in time. “ _ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, you a fan _

_ Understand this is Zombieland _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man _

_ Bet ya can't do it like I can _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man with the plan _

_ Understand this is Zombieland _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man _

_ Bet ya can't do it like I can _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, you a fan _

_ Understand this is Zombieland _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man _

_ Bet ya can't do it like I can _

_ Bamm! Oh man, oh man, I'm the man with the plan _

_ Lemme do my dance, Bamm!”  _ When the song ended, everyone cheered and Jonah was even panting a little onstage, feeling the adrenaline rush through him and he was smiling wider than he ever thought possible. He took the guitar strap off his shoulder and set it down. T.J. came over and gave him a bro-hug before taking the mic. 

“Give it up for my man! Yes, he’s a human who’s dancing the zombie way!” Everyone laughed and cheered. “Jonah Beck!” 

The cheers grew louder and Jonah looked out at everyone amazed. “Is this how it always feels?” He asked them.

“Just about,” Lenni said. “You know, when Zeke comes back, he could use a backup guitar to his lead, if you’re interested.”

“If I can,” he said. “You know, law-wise?”

“Suppose you can?” T.J. asked. 

“If I can, then I’m 100% in!”

* * *

D.J. Zenith started her set after the band got off the stage and T.J. went to Cyrus, grabbing his hand and taking him to a bit of a quieter spot inside the plant. “So?”

“That was amazing!” Cyrus said excitedly. “I’ve never been more alive! It was exhilarating!”

He laughed and looked at him, slowly linking their fingers together. “I’m glad you had fun. And your friends?”

“Andi loves all things fun, so this party, definitely her vibe. And you saw Jonah up on that stage. He totally belonged.”

“Heart of a performer. Plus, he’s seriously talented. I had to beg him to vocalize on his own when I heard what came out of his mouth! He has the voice of an angel!”

“I’m glad you did. Before, Jonah never played for anyone except us. But he felt at home in a room full of zombies.”

“Maybe because he knows that zombies won’t judge him harshly,” T.J. said. 

“Yeah. Buffy...she’ll totally never admit it, but she had a lot of fun learning the new dances and probably really liked your friend there?”

“Marty? Oh god, if he gets a human girlfriend, he’ll be absolutely intolerable,” he laughed. “And I think I know how you feel.”

“It was...I can’t even describe it.”

“I’m glad you enjoyed the Zombie Mash,” he said. “You guys were the first humans to ever witness this.” 

“I’m honored,” he smiled. He went to hold T.J.’s other hand but he winced and pulled both hands away, rubbing his wrist with the Z-Band. “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean-“

“No, it’s okay,” he said. “It’s not you. I swear.” 

“What is it,” he frowned at the wrist.

T.J. hesitated, then sighed at Cyrus’s worried look. “I...I have a hack on my Z-Band. It lets me get a teeny bit more...it’s a little zom-boost so I can win games.” 

“What? But...isn’t that dangerous?”

“It’s fine,” he said. “Just a little sensitivity. But...we need this. It’s the only way zombies are getting more respect in this town. If I win homecoming, we can let the other zombie students into human schools. There’s, like, at least a thousand kids stuck in dingy basements in Zombietown with books from the 1940s, if they’re lucky, and only thirty of us were allowed to be a part of this integration experiment. My winning games got the school to take down the barriers between humans and zombies...to let us into actual classrooms with real teachers, do real homework, get into clubs...Lenni got into the music appreciation club! And Marty’s trying out for track next season…this is huge. And it can’t happen unless I do this.”

“It’s a lot to put on one kid.”

“Zombies don’t get the luxury to be seen as kids.”

“I’m sorry,” he said, tentatively holding his hand out. T.J. smiled and took it. 

“Don’t be. You’re the human who’s giving me a bit of hope.”

* * *

Buffy was wandering around the power plant, seeing different musicians and DJ’s in each part playing music and watching all the different dances going around, until she saw a little zombie girl trying to do a cartwheel. She was so cute and muttering to the stuffed puppy she had a few feet away from her. “You’re doing really well,” Buffy said, startling the girl. 

“I’m not doing anything wrong…”

“No, you’re not,” she said, trying to calm the scared girl down. “You just need to give a bit of a harder kick to get that cartwheel off the ground. Try it.” 

She looked a little apprehensive, but decided to give it a try, feeling her cartwheel go smoother. “I did it!” 

“Yeah! That was a lot better. Now try locking your elbows…” she did it again, cheering when it looked better. “You got it! My name is Buffy.”

“I’m Juliana, and this is Zander,” she said. 

“And she’s not supposed to be out,” a voice at the doorway said, a voice Buffy learned to recognize. She turned to see Marty with his arms crossed, and Lenni standing behind him. “You’re only seven, too young.”

“I’m not gonna miss a zombie mash!”

“Jujuba…” he said, a light warning in his voice. Buffy instantly recognized that tone. It was a big brother tone. 

“Marty, no! Who’s a good boy?” Buffy frowned confused as he kept his same expression, then eventually let out a bark, his whole demeanor shifting as he put his hands up like a puppy and barked excitedly over to Juliana. 

“Me! I’m a good boy!” 

Juliana laughed and pet him. Buffy laughed, thinking it was a little weird, but cute. “Um...what was that?” She asked Lenni quietly. 

“Juliana loves dogs. Wants one more than anything...but zombies aren’t allowed to have dogs. Humans think we’ll eat them.”

“That’s...pretty insulting, actually,” she said. 

“Yup. So, she has Xander for the puppy cuddles, and Marty is her playtime puppy, whenever she wants it.” 

“He’s a good brother,” she said, seeing him wrap his arms around her and swing her around, making exaggerated slurping noises, like he was licking her, and seeing her giggle. 

“Alright, how about I take Juju home before it gets too late,” Lenni offered, picking up and carrying Juliana. 

“You sure you’re okay going home?”

“Yeah, already played my set, got my adoration, and a nice walk home sounds like heaven.” 

“Okay, see you at home Jujuba.”

“Bye Marty! Bye Buffy!” She waved as Lenni took her away. Buffy watched them go, standing next to Marty. 

“I had no idea what zombie life was actually like. What zombies are actually like…” 

“Yeah, most humans don't. The government wants you to believe their story so that you don’t feel bad when you witness us getting mistreated, so you’ll think that we deserve it,” he said. “And not a conspiracy theory.”

“It’s wrong. Everything I thought I knew about zombies...it’s pretty much all a lie.” She looked him in the eyes and fought off a blush. He smiled and looked at the stair shaft they were next to. 

“Can I show you something?” He offered his hand. She stared at it skeptically, but ended up taking it. He led her up the stairs to a room lit up by a large sculpture of lightbulbs coming out of the floor, the walls, the ceilings, there were easily 80 dim lightbulbs in there, casting a warm glow. 

“What is this?”

“Zombie light garden. We don’t have enough water for real plants, so we have cactuses for the house, and this for our ‘strolls’ in the ‘park.’” 

“It’s...gorgeous.” She walked around, looking at the delicate curves of some of the stands, and the harsh jaggedness of others, and how they mixed to create something new and ethereal. She turned around and saw Marty standing right next to her. She looked him in the eyes, his big brown eyes, and smiled a little. Should she kiss him? Did she want to kiss him? Oh my god, she wanted to kiss a zombie! 

Before anything could even begin to happen, all the lights shut off and there was screaming everywhere. “What’s happening?!” She asked in a panic, and he grabbed her hands. 

“Crap! It’s a raid. It’s past curfew!”

“Curfew? You guys have curfew?” 

“Yeah...I…I can’t get caught. I’ll get thrown in containment!”

“I’m guessing that’s not good?”

“No...not good.”

Buffy thought for a moment. She had human privilege, she wouldn’t get hurt or sent to containment, and she could handle getting grounded by her mother. “Go,” she said. “I’ll be fine. I’ll see you in school, okay?”

“Too late to ask for you number, huh?” He was already pulling away from her hands. 

“Cyrus has it,” she said. “Get it from him.” 

She then heard nothing else, just silence. Until she felt a flashlight. “Turn around zombie...wait, you’re not a zombie.” She turned and saw a Z-Patrol officer standing in front of her, shining a light in her eyes. “What are you doing here? Don’t you know this is a hotbed for zombie activity?”

“I...uh…”

“Let me take you home,” he said gently, offering a hand to her. Buffy heard his radio go off with other officers finding humans, and others sending zombies to containment. Her mind wandered, and she found herself hoping T.J. and Marty got out alright.


	5. Chapter 5

Of course, Andi, Cyrus, Jonah, and Buffy had to face all of their parents together. And even worse, Buffy’s mother was the captain of the Z Patrol, so the officers that brought them home had to stand awkwardly while their children were berated. Some of them tried to leave but were always ordered to stay. Cyrus winced slightly as his parents started directing into his and his friends’ behaviors, trying to figure out why they acted out in such a way. The only adult who didn’t participate was Andi’s mother Bex, who was expressionless among everything, simply looking over Andi. She didn’t look mad or sad or even worried, she just looked like she was taking everything in. Everyone looked around at each other and the four of them made eye contact, with Cyrus giving them a small nod. 

“Well? What do you have to say?” Buffy’s mom demanded. 

“I invited them out,” Cyrus said. Everyone looked around confused. Cyrus? Of all people. “Okay, well, kind of. I made a new friend at school, and introduced everyone here to him. He’s the one who invited us. Said we would be safe…which to be fair, we were. None of us were hurt, we’re totally fine!”

“Who’s this new friend of yours?” His stepmother asked. 

“His name is T.J., he’s on the basketball team…”

“Oh yes, the one that’s on a winning streak now,” his mother said. “Well, maybe T.J. just didn’t know the full dangers and made a simple teenage mistake.”

“Well, not many people know the full psychology of zombie teenagers,” his father said. The four teens had to bite the inside of their cheeks to stay quiet at that. They were in enough trouble and trying to show their parents the truth now would not end well for anyone. “Okay, here’s what going to happen. We’re going to meet T.J. tomorrow after school, before the homecoming game.”

“What?” Cyrus balked. 

“Wonderful. The four of you are going to come back here to Mr. Goodman’s house and we’re going to meet this T.J. fellow before you all go to the game. Or…” Mrs. Beck started but she frowned, thinking up the second half. 

“Or no more extra-curricular activities,” Buffy’s mom completed. 

“What? Mom, that’s not fair! I’m the captain of the basketball, track, and dance teams! I can’t just quit!”

“Then we’re meeting T.J.,” she said. “Tomorrow, after school before you guys leave for the game. Simple as that.” 

The officers left and all the parents sighed. “It’s getting late,” Cyrus’s mother said. 

“What about us kids stay here?” Andi asked. “That way we get enough rest for school tomorrow?” 

At first, some of the parents were going to object but Cyrus’s father came to their defense. “No, by the time you guys got home with your kids and they got ready for everything, it would be too late to wake up on time with enough rest. They spend enough time here that they each have a drawer in the guest room dedicated to their things.”

“If you’re sure…” Buffy’s mom started. 

“Not a problem. Kids, go upstairs and to bed. Tomorrow, we’ll meet T.J.”

The four teenagers could not have run up the stairs faster, going into Cyrus’s room and closing the door. “Okay,” Cyrus said. “What do we do?”

“None of this is good,” Buffy said. “None of our parents are big fans of zombies, except maybe Andi’s mom. I mean, my mom’s head of the Z Patrol, Jonah’s grandfather was bitten by a zombie…”

“Only on the ear. He’s fine, and still has the full ear. He just got a little scared,” he said. 

“And Cyrus’s parents all think they’re experts in zombie psychology,” Buffy continued. “And we’re all learning how wrong all these ideas are. Zombies are just...people mistreated by us humans, all rights stripped…we’re supposed to be passed this in history.”

“Human history repeats,” Cyrus said. “We just change the groups we go against.” 

“That’s very depressing,” Jonah said. “But...what do we do about tomorrow?”

“I’ll tell T.J. tomorrow,” Cyrus said. “And the rest of us...will figure it out together.” 

* * *

T.J. paced his room after school the next day, trying to think. He needed to come up with a plan to help his new friends before he ruined everything. He couldn’t ruin everything. He couldn’t be a screw-up, at least more than usual.

********************

_T.J. was talking to Marty and Lenni, rubbing the wrist with his Z-band on it._

_“You need to stop that,” Marty said. “This hack I put on you...it’s not stable, and it’s clearly causing you pain. I mean...look at your wrist. It’s red and raw.”_

_“It’s fine,” he said dismissively. “This is for everyone here. All the zombies. We’re being given rights of humans, and once I win this last game, everyone from Zombietown will go to human schools.”_

_“T.J.,” Lenni sighed. “What about your health? You know, so you can continue living?”_

_“I’m fine,” he insisted. “Besides, one last game. After this game...the entire future fate of zombie kind won’t be hinging on my success, and I’ll stop messing with the z-band. I’ll even volunteer for an update if that helps ease your mind.”_

_“Fine,” Marty said. “One last game. And after this, no more. Lose normally.”_

_“Deal,” he said. He saw Cyrus walk into an empty hall and immediately bid his friends goodbye before jogging up to meet him._

_“Cyrus, wait. About last night, I’m so sorry for vanishing. I completely lost track of time, and I forgot we were past curfew and I didn’t want the Z Patrol to get-“_

_“It’s fine, really, I’m not mad about that,” he said. “I understand completely. But...we do need to talk.”_

_“Those are never good words…”_

_“Well, we were caught by Z Patrol, and taken home,” Cyrus started. “And basically now, if we want to continue doing our extra-curricular activities...all of us…our parents have to meet you.”_

_“Okay, I’ll just win them over with my quick wit and charming personality,” he said with an easy smile, then he noticed Cyrus’s pained look._

_“T.J…”_

_“They don’t like zombies, do they?”_

_“Jonah’s grandfather got bitten...tiny insignificant bite, by a zombie, Buffy’s mom is the captain of the Z-Patrol, Andi’s mom...actually Andi’s mom is the only one who doesn’t seem to hate zombies, so maybe you have a point with her, but my parents, all four of them...technically they’re the leading psychologists of zombie psyche.”_

_“So they like zombies?”_

_“Um…”_

_“They rely on myths and stories.”_

_“And first hand accounts…” Cyrus started. “...Of humans who interact with zombies.”_

_“Experts who don’t talk to their actual subject...sounds accurate,” T.J. sighed. “I’m sorry I put you in this mess.”_

_“Don’t be,” he said with a small smile. “Last night was the most fun I’ve ever had. It was worth it to me.”_

_“That doesn’t make it okay.”_

_“Teej, it’s fine. Really.”_

********************

T.J. looked at his Z-Band. In order to get his Zomboost during games, he swiped left. That’s what Marty had set up on his tablet. Swiping left gave a teeny tiny boost that made him stronger and faster, using his natural zombie abilities to push though the other team, and his own at first, and win games. 

But Marty had warned him about seventeen times in a minute never to swipe right, because that could have serious consequences. But like...it wouldn’t kill him, right? I mean...if it could kill him, Marty would have said so, even if he wasn’t sure, but thought there was a small chance. So...what’s the worst that could happen, right? No risk, no reward. The only thing he knew, and he was right, was that it was going to hurt.

* * *

“It’s about time we get to meet this boy,” Cyrus’s mother said, arranging things while everyone sat stiffly in the living room. 

“Look, there’s something you should know…”

“Oh, and if he’s on the basketball team, that means he must like playing a lot, huh Buffy?” Her mom gave her a look and Buffy shook her head. 

“Yeah...I’m not really the type of person T.J. goes for…”

“Well, a player on a successful team, and you leading the girl’s successful team? No sane man would be against that,” she insisted. 

“Don’t worry mom. He’s sane. Just...I might not be his demographic…”

“I don’t…”

“Okay, enough about speculating on T.J.’s romantic life!” Cyrus snapped, a little harder than usual. “Anyways, the thing you need to know about T.J. is that he’s-“ he was cut off by the doorbell. 

“Here,” His mother said, and all the adults went to the door, and all the teenagers started panicking. 

“Um guys, you don’t want to open that! I didn’t get to tell you that T.J. is-“

“Handsome,” Buffy’s mother said with a smile. The teenagers exchanged glances and moved forward to look between their parents, and all dropped their mouths in shock. His skin had more color, there was no red around his eyes, and his hair wasn't green, it was blonde. A gorgeous, dirty blonde. He wasn’t wearing the customized coveralls, but rather a hoodie and a pair of jeans. 

“Hello, you guys must be...well, all the parents,” he said. “I’m T.J. Kippen.”

“T.J., it is a pleasure to meet you,” Mrs. Goodman said. Cyrus made his way forward, staring at him openly while the others fought their way forward as well.

“I’m very sorry about any trouble I may have caused with everyone.”

“Teenagers do stupid things,” Mr. Goodman dismissed. “As long as you learned from your mistakes.”

“Yes sir.”

“So...they said you’re on the basketball team, is that right?”

“Yeah, I’m a center, like Buffy. I’m just not the captain. I joined this year.”

“How wonderful!”

“Okay!” Buffy said, grabbing an awestruck Cyrus and charming T.J. by the shoulders. “We have to go! You met T.J., everything is fine! Bye!” She started pushing/leading them away while Andi and Jonah sped walked to catch up. Once they were out of earshot of all adults, Buffy stopped walking and spun T.J. around. “How did you..”

“Awesome, right?!” He laughed a little. “Since I was able to get little Zom-Boosts during the game by swiping left, I thought by doing the opposite, I could be a little more human. And honestly, it feels cool and so weird. Like, are you guys this hot *all the time*? Like, five minutes in the sun and I’m already sweating.”

“You’re human…” Cyrus said, and ran his fingers through his hair. “And blonde?”

“Yeah, no clue about the blonde thing. Maybe the remnants of the human genetics?”

“It’s...it’s not going to be like this all the time, right?” 

“No, no! This is just a ‘meet the parents’ deal. I’m gonna go back to normal later. Green hair and everything.” 

“Okay...I like the green hair,” he said with a shy smile. T.J. blushed lightly and smiled back, and the other three shared a look. 

“Um...guys?” Andi cut in. 

“Right, right, uh...thanks,” T.J. said shyly. 

“So...green hair?” Jonah prompted. 

“In a bit,” he promised. “But...I thought, since I look like this...I’ve never had frozen yogurt before.”

“Wait, never?!” Jonah asked shocked. 

“All the frozen yogurt shops are human only. Big ‘No Zombies’ signs on the outside. Not really a way for me to get it.”

Cyrus and Jonah looked at each other shocked, before flashing the girls their puppy dog eyes. They sighed, knowing there was no way to beat the two of them combined. 

“One cup each,” Buffy said. “Then he goes back to normal. Who knows what could be happening because of this.”

********************

“Vanilla, vanilla, vanilla,” Cyrus read the list of frozen yogurt flavors. “Double vanilla...and can you guess the last one?”

“Um...vanilla!” T.J. played along. 

Cyrus gasped dramatically. “How did you know?”

The other three rolled their eyes and took a bite of their own vanilla yogurts. “Well,” T.J. said. “Boring and predictable, but vanilla works.” 

“Yeah, but this describes all of Shadyside. All the same, all boring and bland, and not a hint of chocolate to add some different perspectives.”

“I’m guessing you’re a chocolate guy?”

“Or strawberry. But that’s only available in ice cream right now, not yogurt.”

“Yeah...we have cauli-brain flavored ice cream...it’s about the only one we have. No other flavors.”

“What’s that flavor?” Jonah asked. 

“Meat and vegetable flavored dairy products?” T.J. asked. 

“I don’t want that…” Jonah said, going back to his vanilla. 

“Yeah...it only sells well during the summer, when we’re all desperate because we don’t have any AC and we’re not allowed at the pool or beach, and there’s not enough water to run the sprinklers…”

“I get angrier at humans in charge the more you talk,” Andi said, stabbing her yogurt. 

“One day, that might be you,” T.J. said. “So I’ve got hope.” 

“So, I have a question,” Jonah said. “You said that if you go full zombie, you wouldn’t go after brains, right?”

Andi started chastising him, but T.J. stopped her. “No, it’s okay to ask. We’d rather you ask. But yeah, going full zombie doesn’t mean my only thoughts revolve around eating brains.”

“So...would you wear your Z-Band around humans, if you had a choice, all the time?”

“Oh, definitely,” he said. 

“Why?”

T.J. hesitated, but then talked. “It’s...okay, so zombies wouldn’t go after humans as a food source, because that’s unnecessary now, but it wouldn’t be good. Rational, complex thought is close to impossible because of the brain parts that aren’t artificially stimulated by the Z-Band. And because those parts of the brain are shut off, we actually are stronger and faster, by a ridiculous amount. I think the last estimate some scientists made about 15-ish years ago is that we’re fifty percent faster than the average human, and we can lift and carry over ten times our body weight, but that was a really old really old study and we have no idea if that is all 100% accurate. So, us fully zombied out around humans…it’s still potentially dangerous. If they try to use weapons on us, we’ll attack because of the fight or flight instincts. We also don’t fully know our own strength in that state, so any contact...we could crush you guys by accident without meaning to.” He said. “It’s like...this helps our brains go deeper, rationalize everything, think things through because otherwise we physically can’t. And…instincts alone can be dangerous.”

“Oh,” Jonah said. Cyrus frowned slightly. For some reason, he was sure that even if he saw T.J. fully zombied out, he wouldn’t be afraid. 

* * *

Kira Griffon was angry. No, she wasn’t angry. She wasn’t annoyed either. He was certainly feeling lots of things. She and T.J. Kippen were right for each other, and she’s known it since they were ten. He was cute, she was beautiful; he was a basketball player, she was a basketball player; he was the one zombie everyone their age looked up to, and she was the one who wouldn’t let anything stand in her way. 

Humans stood in the way of zombies. It felt like she was alone in this, that nobody else believed her that humans and zombies should be separate. Zombies were mutated to be superior to humans, and now zombies didn’t even need brains to function. Humans knew zombies were powerful which is why they were subjugated to these unfair laws. If zombies could rule their own place, away from all the others, who knew how much more powerful they could be? 

T.J. Kippen was supposed to help her rally the troops. Her ideas were good. They were more than good, they were the best ideas. If T.J. Kippen realized how she would be helping them all, he’d help her. But he wanted to fit in, so much so that he was willing to lose himself. 

They were supposed to be the power couple. Kira and T.J. Tira. K.J. However that would work. It was supposed to be the two of them. They used to be friends, hanging out, and she flirted with him, he seemed to respond, and it was all fine until she demanded he kiss her. He said no, that they should only be friends. She knew better. 

She insisted better.

He left her. 

And once they started going to that human school, he started acting weirder. He played the games, but he would gravitate towards that human boy. He was always around him, touching him, talking about him. It wasn’t normal. 

It wasn’t right. 

He hung around that “Cyrus’s” every word, every gesture, every look. It was like he was in love with him.

T.J. Kippen could not be in love with him.

T.J. Kippen was normal. He was powerful. 

He was corrupted. 

Of course, she thought. That’s the only way that T.J. is acting that way, so abnormally, so wrong. He was corrupted by the way he hung out with humans. He needed to be separated from them, then he’d go back to normal. Maybe he’d even thank her. Maybe they’d start dating again. 

T.J. Kippen was perfect for her, and he just needed help seeing that. It was a good thing he never noticed her anymore. Because of that, she was able to overhear conversations. She saw the boy, Cyrus, invite his friends to the mash, a traditionally zombies only event, so when it got close to curfew, she put in an anonymous tip with the Z Patrol hotline. A few zombies spending a few days in containment would be a worthy price to pay for true freedom. She was not afraid of what those guys would say about her. Once T.J. was on her side, he’d get through to them. 

Then she finally learned T.J.’s secret to becoming the most important person on the basketball team. He was using his Z-Band, hacking it so that he could get a little boost of his natural, zombie abilities to power through. But he was reserved. He wouldn’t do it all because he was afraid of “losing control.” Maybe it was time to lose control. 

She was able to easily steal Marty’s tablet, and she tried to get into his software for T.J.’s Z-Band, but she was blocked out. That is...until the software got corrupted somehow from T.J.’s Z-Band. She wasn’t sure what he did, but she now knew how to mess with the Z-Band. She also saw that Marty had previously messed with his own Z-Band and Lenni’s, probably jailbreaking them so that they could play games or something, and her plan expanded in her mind. 

Tonight, Shadyside would not know what hit them. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, in an attempt to pace myself a little bit so I can stop using this to procrastinate other work, in order to update this again, I need either at least 2 comments or 10 extra kudos (I prefer comments!!! It makes me scream happy things! I love it!)


	6. Chapter 6

T.J. had no idea why he was so nervous on the court right now. Well, he did, but he wasn’t sure why he felt more nervous this time, than he felt the last several games, but he did. He stood in the position coach put him in and looked around. The stands were packed, the cheerleaders were stunting on the sidelines, and T.J. saw that this time, Cyrus didn’t hang up his signs anonymously on the walls, he handed one out to each of his friends and they were loudly cheering him on, along with more than half of the school. He didn’t even know it was possible to be this happy. 

One more game. This last game and all zombie kids go to all human schools. Marty’s sister would be in elementary school, his neighbors in middle, it would be more than just thirty kids. He saw the game about to start, and he moved to swipe left on his Z-Band.

* * *

Kira kept her eye on the tablet, seeing the screen light up when T.J. tried to swipe, and she blocked it. He wanted to be a human so badly? He could lose this game like one. No more zombie kids forced to assimilate with the predominate, weaker culture.

* * *

Marty stared at the screen of his Z-Band. “Something’s wrong,” he told Lenni.

“What is it?”

“I don’t know…” he said. He went to get his tablet, but he couldn’t find it. He started freaking out, searching more violently. That tablet had the information of his, Lenni’s, and T.J.’s Z-Band, from when he initially hacked it so they could video chat and play games, to being able to give T.J. his zomboost. “This…this is bad…”

* * *

T.J. kept trying to swipe, but he didn’t get the boost he needed. He stayed in his regular pale, green-haired state. No dark veins, no redder eyes, no growling, and no strength and speed. “Crap...I have to win for real.” He pulled his hand away from his band and looked around at his team. They all looked at him nodding. 

They had his back. Maybe things were changing.

The ref blew the whistle and Grant had possession of the ball. Leo passed it to T.J., who immediately started doing a play that coach insisted they practice, even if normally during the games, the guys passed him the ball and let him do the rest. He held up four fingers in the air, signaling the play to the others on his team, and passed the ball to Darryl, using the opportunity to run ahead. 

Before hacking his Z-Band, T.J. was a good player. And now that he had a real team, one who actually stood by him and helped him instead of stepping aside to see him get knocked over and pummeled, he didn’t need the Z-Band. He had a shot. A real shot.

* * *

“He’s playing differently,” Buffy said, waving the sign Cyrus made in the air. 

“He is?” Cyrus asked. He frowned, trying to see the difference, but giving up and looking at Buffy. 

“He’s less aggressive,” she explained. “And...his teammates are not abandoning him, or completely depending on him. They’re playing with him, for real.”

Cyrus tried to peer closer. It didn’t look like he was messing with his Z-Band. He looked normal. T.J. normal. He looked perfect. “Wow. I guess things really are changing for zombies in Shadyside. This is proof.”

* * *

Kira frowned. T.J. should be failing right now. But he was winning on his own, with a team that stood by him. They played together, the humans and the zombie. It was wrong. It was very, very wrong! Why couldn’t everyone just see that being separate was better? They were just deluding themselves, deluding themselves from the inevitable. When halftime came, she looked at the tablet, scrolling through to see what she could do. Turning T.J. into a full human wouldn’t make him worse. He was playing at human capabilities, so that would do nothing. 

* * *

“Lenni, I can’t find my tablet.”

She turned around wide-eyed, and Jonah overheard them. “Dude, someone stole your tablet?”

“I hope not,” he said. “If someone stole my tablet, it has the information of mine, Lenni’s, and T.J.’s Z-Bands…though it’s encrypted and protected unless T.J. corrupted the system by swiping right.”

Jonah gulped. “Um...what would happen if he swiped right?”

“To the tech, it would corrupt all of my protections and anyone would be able to access and hack all three of our Z-Bands. To T.J...I have no clue. He’d probably look like a full human. Like, no trace of zombie anywhere. Human hair and skin.”

Jonah’s eyes widened even more. “Uh-oh.”

“Uh oh?! What do you mean uh oh?!” Marty demanded, terrified. Jonah simply pulled out his phone and showed Marty the picture of blonde, human T.J. eating froyo with him, Cyrus, Buffy, and Andi. “One rule! I gave that dumbass one goddamn rule! Don’t swipe right! And he did it for some ice cream?!”

“Froyo, but actually he did it to bail us from our parents,” he said. “We were caught by Z-Patrol after the Zombie Mash, and our parents said that they had to meet T.J. or we’d all have to quit all of our extracurricular activities. And the only one we think might not be zombiephobic is Andi’s mom…”

“That doesn’t excuse his idiocy!” He said. “If the tablet is with the wrong person...something bad could happen. Something really, really, really bad!”

* * *

Kira growled in frustration. Grant was so far ahead and with seconds left on the clock, there was no way Jackson would beat them. “Fine,” she muttered to herself. “One last win.” She kept watching and saw T.J. trip on the floor right as the buzzer went off, and a couple of guys from both teams fell on top of him. “T.J. Kippen...you’ll thank me for saving you one day.” She tapped on her tablet and disabled his Z-Band.

* * *

T.J. heard some beeps and looked at his Z-Band, seeing a little zombie emoji wink before the screen went completely black. “No...no no no!” His voice went from normal to growling, and all of his veins went blacker than usual, his eyes darkening even more. His thoughts were disappearing. There was only one thing. There were humans on top of him, trapping him, containing him. With one loud roar, he threw them off effortlessly, sending them flying across the court as he got up. 

He looked like a monster, and he looked around the stadium. Everyone was screaming. Human screams meant attacks. Attacks meant hurting T.J. Hurting T.J. means hurting them so they stop hurting him. 

* * *

Kira smirked. This is what her fellow zombies needed to see. Humans haven’t changed. They’d continue to oppress them. The only way to be free is to be separate. Now onto phase two. She had three Z-Bands to work with, after all. 

* * *

“SHIT!” Marty and Lenni stood up as someone activated the Zombie Alarms. “Whoever has my tablet turned off his Z-Band!”

“You mean…?” Cyrus asked. 

“He’s full zombie...and if they have his Z-Band information…” Lenni’s band started beeping and Marty saw the zombie emoji before the screen went black. “Find the tablet!” He shouted at his human friends. “That’s the only way you can turn the bands back on!” Lenni started going full zombie, her veins black and her eyes deep red, and she let out a roar. Marty’s Z-Band beeped and he saw the same emoji and black screen, and of his worries, his anxieties, worrying about how people would see him started turning into one thought. ‘Humans scared. Humans attack. Attack back.’ He let out a roar standing next to Lenni. 

* * *

“Cyrus, come on!” Buffy tried tugging on his arm to head to the doors of the gym, but he didn’t let her. 

“No! Marty said we need to find the tablet! That’s how we help T.J.!”

“T.J. might not eat our brains,” she said, believing what he had told them earlier. “But he can still hurt you! He’s strong!”

“I trust him Buffy,” he said with determination. “He won’t hurt me. He won’t hurt us.” 

Buffy looked at him like he was crazy, standing calmly, determined, around the screaming people trying to run in all directions. Even other unaffected zombies were running in the chaos of the sirens and scream and bangs since the doors locked by themselves and had barriers come down, meant to keep any zombies out. Only Z-Patrol can open those doors by entering several codes. She saw the craziness, and she saw Cyrus. 

Andi, Jonah, and Amber, Andi and Jonah’s cheerleader friend, ran up to them. “What are you doing? We can’t just stand here!” Amber said. Buffy looked in Cyrus’s eyes one more time and then gave him a small, yet firm nod. 

“Marty told us what we had to do. Find the tablet. That’ll restore them.”

“Won’t they eat our brains?!” She asked, and Jonah shook his head. 

“Myth. They’re just running on very confused instincts with increased strength.”

“Guys, T.J., Marty, Lenni? They know us, even their subconscious knows we’re friends, that we won’t hurt them. Act calmly around them,” Cyrus said. “And they won’t attack you, or even hug you.”

“We’ll split up. Andi, stay with Amber, help her keep calm. She’s not used to these guys like we are,” Buffy said. She watched Marty stumble around, screaming and growling. He looked angry, confused, and scared. She wanted to help him. She would. 

Cyrus kept his eyes on T.J. as he and his friends split up. He faintly heard sirens of the Z-Patrol approaching, and he saw T.J. head over to a group of his teammates. All of them were stepping back, one of them putting a hand on the basketball rack like he was preparing to use it as a weap;on against T.J. No! 

“T.J.!” T.J. stopped marching forward, like he was physically restraining himself. Cyrus ran towards him. “T.J.! It’s okay, you’re okay!” He ran in front of the players and T.J. stopped entirely, growling in his face. Objectively, T.J. looked scary, but Cyrus wasn’t scared of him, he was scared for him. “T.J., take my hand,” he said reaching, but T.J. wrenched it away from him. “T.J. I trust you! Take my hand!” He held his hand out and T.J. reached forward. 

What Cyrus didn’t see was Z-Patrol entering the gym and tasing Lenni before putting her in cuffs, then tasing Marty. He didn’t see Andi grabbing that girl zombie T.J. mentioned a few times, Kira, and Amber grabbing the tablet from her hands and frantically messing with it. What he did see was T.J. look at him with zombie eyes, he heard a beep from his Z-Band, and his eyes slowly go back to normal, and he saw T.J. open his mouth to say his name, which was cut off by a Z Patrol officer tasing him, knocking him to the ground. 

“No!” Cyrus fell on his knees next to him. “T.J. it’ll be okay! Sir! He’s fine now! Someone messed with him! Sabotage!” The officer didn’t care as he started handcuffing T.J. He looked up and saw Andi and Amber talking to an officer and gesturing to the tablet while the officer handcuffed Kira, and Marty being tackled to the floor to be handcuffed while Lenni was violently shoved against a wall. 

T.J. didn’t say anything, but he gave a quick glance to Cyrus, and Cyrus saw every single emotion going through his mind: fear, sadness, shame, guilt, remorse, guilt, and so many others he had no idea what they were named, but he knew it was all pain. It was pure pain in those blue eyes as the officer forced T.J. up to his feet. 

Lenni and Marty were forced up and Buffy tried to hug Marty, but was shoved away by an officer. Cyrus tried talking to the officer, but was cut off. “Son, he attacked. He’s a rouge zombie. He could have killed you!”

“He wouldn’t have!” Cyrus said. “I know he wouldn’t have!”

He looked up at the stands and saw everyone booing the zombies, cursing them, and other officers calmly led the unaffected zombies out of the gym, gesturing for them to go back to Zombietown while they led Kira to a van headed to containment, and it was clear they were going to lead Lenni, Marty, and T.J. in there too. 

Buffy ran to Cyrus and looked at him. “One thing, one act of sabotage, involuntary to them...and they’re getting blamed and hated again.”

“It’s because Shadyside doesn’t like different,” Cyrus said. 

“Nobody stands up for the zombies…” Buffy said. “Nobody shows off how they’re up afraid to be different.”

T.J. was nearing the middle of the court, still far from the doors, but in plain view of everyone booing him and his friends. Lenni was crying and it was obvious Marty was doing his best not to cry. Cyrus realize something, Buffy was right, and he started walking towards T.J. 

“Cyrus? What are you doing?”

“Something completely reckless but necessary. And what I should have done a long time ago.”

People went quiet when Cyrus went right up to T.J., grabbing his other arm, the one that the officer wasn’t holding to lead him away. His actions were so gutsy, so out of the blue, the officer was surprised and let go for a second. Even the other officers holding his friends stopped to look, and the crowd went silent, watching to see what was going to happen. 

T.J. looked at Cyrus, trying to look strong and up afraid, but also puzzled at the moment. He had no idea what Cyrus was about to do, and Cyrus had no idea he was capable of doing this. He looked right up into T.J.’s deep blue eyes, grabbed the front of his jersey, took a deep breath to try and center himself, and all of this happening in the span of a second,  **_he pulled T.J. down and kissed him._ **

There was a gasp among the crowd, as well as some murmurs. He knew his parents were in the crowd, as well as his friends’ parents, and he didn’t care about what they would say. All that mattered at that moment was that he was doing what he needed to do. The best part about what was happening? T.J. kissed back, closing his eyes, and kissing him desperately, almost hungrily, and Cyrus matched with even more intensity. 

And Cyrus kept kissing his zombie boyfriend right until the officer forcefully pulled them apart and all but dragged T.J. to the van. T.J. complied, but he kept looking at Cyrus. There was still fear, sadness, and guilt, but there was something else, something better: Pride. T.J. was proud of him, and it was such a wonderful look, that Cyrus didn’t even care when the crowd piped up and started booing him. 

“Cyrus, what did you-“

“Showing the world I’m different,” he said. “And I’m glad I am.”

* * *

Cyrus kissed him. Cyrus came out to Shadyside, pretty much all of Shadyside by kissing him, and T.J. felt so proud. He was proud of his boyfriend, if he could call Cyrus that. He wanted to call Cyrus that. 

He’d never be able to call Cyrus that. After the game, the pure disaster that it was there, zombies would never be allowed in school again. The segregation would double down, and it was all his fault. 

No, it wasn’t.

“How could you?” He looked straight at Kira with pure ice in his eyes. It was so intense that even she had to shrink back a little on her section of the back of the prison van. 

“T.J. you don’t understand…”

“You ruined everything,” he said. “I knew you were selfish, but this is too far.”

“Selfish? Everything I did is for zombie freedom!”

“Freedom?!” T.J. shook the cuffs behind his back. “This is freedom?! You could have seriously hurt people! But you just undid EVERYTHING I did for all of us! I put my own goddamn health at risk so that there could be zombie kids at school! Fully integrated! I did that! Me!”

“Integration? They wanted to turn us into little green haired humans!”

“Kira, LOOK AT US!” He shouted. He has never been angrier in his life. “There are a total of 12,000 zombies. It’s probably only 12,000 zombies IN THE WORLD! We were quarantined after the explosion! There’s probably no other zombies in the country! In the world! The only reason we’re not dead is that extinction of any animal is illegal in the U.N! We were classified as animals! We still are! I was moving us to be in the same goddamn category as humans! And you RUINED it!”

Marty and Lenni were glaring at Kira. “You’ve screwed us all.”

“I wanted humans to give us a place where we could govern ourselves, live independently.”

“Humans would never have done that! They’d rather be international criminals and exterminate us all than give a lesser being a right!” Lenni shouted. “Outsider groups have to prove they’re on the same level to get rights! Similar! Not different!”

Kira didn’t say anything, simply looking down as they all went to containment. Lenni and Marty were sitting on the same side as T.J., with Lenni in the middle, and she let a few tears slip, putting her head on T.J.’s shoulder. He put his head on top of hers, and Marty put his head on her shoulder. At containment, they’d be separated for who knows how long, and who knows what would happen to them in there, but they needed to be reminded they were not alone. And with T.J. replaying the kiss in his head, he knew exactly how he was not alone.

* * *

Cyrus ended up having to block a lot of phone numbers that didn’t belong to his parents or friends. People kept calling him and texting him, harassing him. Even a few of his cousins ended up getting blocked. People said his lips must be rotting off, or that soon he’d grow a green mustache, but he didn’t care. He knew he did the right thing. 

His parents, naturally, were the first ones to freak out. The four of them reconvened in his mother’s house and started debating with each other about the signs of teenage rebellion Cyrus was exhibiting, right until he got fed up. “Guys! Stop! You want to know what’s going on? You’re mental health experts! All of you! Rule number one is to ask the person what’s going on!”

They all went quiet and exchanged glances. “You’re right Cyrus,” his mother said. “How about you tell us what’s going on. Why did you do that?”

“Why did I what? Come out, or kiss a zombie, regardless of the zombie’s gender identity?” He asked. 

“Let’s start with the zombie part,” his stepmother said. “The coming out thing is a little more understood psychologically.”

“Cyrus, you’ve seen all of our research,” his stepfather asked. “You know what zombies are like. What were you thinking?”

“I was thinking that you’re wrong,” he said plainly, watching all of their shocked and puzzled expressions. “Guys, I’m not saying you’re purposefully deceitful and misleading the public, but I think your research is outdated. Just like before modern times, being gay was considered a mental illness. On my first day of class, someone, purely accidentally, tripped up a zombie alarm, and through a series of events, I made my way into the zombie safe room, where I met T.J. It was dark, I didn’t see who he was, and we just started talking. It was so nice, and easy, and…there was a connection. When I found out he was a zombie when the lights came back on, I was actually shocked. He didn’t seem like anything your research suggests of how the Z Patrol warns us against.

“I became more and more curious, and I wanted to learn more for myself. So I started talking to him more, we hung out, away from everyone’s prying eyes, and I went to the zombie mash. I went on purpose. We all went on purpose. It was fun. Everyone was so welcoming, and kind, and they had the best guacamole I’ve ever eaten because they don’t get all the same ingredients in Zombietown so they create their own things. Buffy learned how insulting laws are to them, that Marty’s little sister wants nothing more than to be allowed to own a puppy because she loves them so much, but she’s not allowed to because people think zombies will eat the puppy! And I got to ask what goes on inside the mind of a zombie, learn what happens, and I saw it in action. Did you know they don’t have the desire to eat brains anymore?”

“Cyrus, what are you talking about?” His father asked. “Of course they need brains if their Z-Bands don’t work.”

“Do you know why they ate brains at first?” Cyrus asked, and his question was answered when his family sat silent. “T.J. told me. He said that the zombie mutation cuts off signals between synapses, and it effectively shuts off parts of the brain, and there’s an emphasis on the amygdala. The Z-Band reactivates the synapses, and Zombies used to eat brains for a temporary reactivation. It wasn’t long lasting so when Z-Bands came about, it was a better solution for them. And the dead parts of their brains made rational thought processing close to impossible, so it’s all instinct.” He stopped and saw all of his parents taking notes on napkins, paper towels, and even margins of cookbooks and magazines. He felt proud of himself, and of his parents for being willing to listen to this new perspective. “Without access to those parts of the brain that process complex thoughts and subconscious, zombies ran purely on instinct. Before, they went for brains as the synapse activator and as food. T.J. said that if he’s at a party and his Z-Band fails, his hunger instinct will take him to attack and devour the snack table, without intentionally hurting a person.”

“What about Cauliflower brain substitute?” His mother asked. 

“For earlier zombies, an alternative substance to brains to satisfy the hunger craving. Now, they eat everything, and the substitute is just a traditional, cultural dish. And the substitute is just Cauliflower with pink and grey food coloring and flavored with meat sauce. Safe for human consumption too. I mean, we’ve had it by accident whenever we made certain veggie side dishes.” 

“Well, when the zombies had their bands shut off, they started attacking.”

“Instincts. Fight or flight, except there’s no flight. T.J. was in a dog pile when his Z-Band shut off, which his instincts perceived as an attack. Then when Marty and Lenni’s shut off, everyone was in a panic and riot, with the zombie alarms going off, so they also perceived attacks. But I went in front of T.J. before he attacked the team that was planning on, in their minds, defending themselves, and in his mind, attacking him. But I went in front and showed him no threat. He stopped. He recognized me. And he was about to go back to normal before he got brutally tased.” 

“Cyrus, if all of this is true…”

“It is,” he said. “Talk to a zombie long enough, and there’s no way you wouldn’t believe them. The former studies of psychopathy and sociopathy didn’t fully understand the zombie brain, so it made assumptions comparing it to human brains.”

“One final question,” his stepfather asked. “What exactly do you feel towards T.J.?”

That was a harder question to answer, because it was hard to get the words out, but he knew exactly the feeling. “He makes me feel like there’s nothing wrong with me. He shows me how amazing different can be, and he’s the first person outside of my friends that I’ve known forever that made me feel…unconditionally loved in a way a relative can’t. It’s easy to talk to him, to be around him…and he makes me unafraid. If I’m with him, part of me know...just knows….I’ll be okay. I mean, he even taught me how to somersault.”

“Really?” His mom interrupted, impressed.

“Yeah. I can do somersaults now!” He said with a little laugh. “And he’s also hilarious, and he can make me laugh with just a word and a look, and sometimes, we can have full conversations by just exchanging glances, without saying a word. It’s...it’s…”

“Cyrus, you know what it is,” his stepmother said, coming around from the counter and putting a hand on his cheek. “We all know what you’re feeling.”

Cyrus nodded, but he couldn’t say that four letter word just yet. He just got another message and he looked, seeing someone had taken a video of the kiss. He heard the gasps and vulgar comments about how gross that was, but he tuned those out, and he took a screenshot of him and T.J. kissing, blocked the number, and set that screenshot as his phone background. 

He was unashamed.

He was unafraid.

And his fight to help zombies was far, far from over.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love you guys who kudos and commented, but y’all are slave drivers, lol. Not even 3:00 a.m. and I got the 2 comments i needed and half of the kudos i required! So, I’m going to give myself a teeny bit more reprieve and set the new standard to be either 4 comments or 15 Kudos, whichever comes first (I have 31 Kudos at the moment, so that’s how I’ll mark it).


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am specifically (jokingly) calling out Mojobiscuits for making me do this. I love you hon, but you knew exactly what you were doing with that smiley face. It’s been a day, y’all! I gladly do this! And prove how I follow through my commitments! And I wasn’t kidding about needing help, y’all. Pretty pretty please! Link below.

The fence was put back up, except now, it didn’t bisect the front entrance of Grant, it was at least twenty feet away from the entrance, with one single door that was padlocked and chained shut. When Cyrus saw that, his heart dropped to his gut. Zombies were now officially banned from school property. And as he went about the day, he noticed that not even zombie janitors stayed on. He took out his phone and saw a press release that said that zombies were under quarantine in Zombietown until all everyone got an update on their Z-Bands. 

“I hate this,” Cyrus moped, sitting with his head in his arms in the cafeteria. People kept staring at him as they walked by, whispering bad things about him. He simply ignored it while Buffy, Jonah, and Amber glared at them to walk away quickly. “Everyone hates zombies again.”

“It was a shaky relationship as is,” Andi said, rubbing his head. 

“It’s not fair,” Cyrus said. “They’re not that different from us. They deserve happiness like us, rights like us…”

“Love, like us,” Buffy said quietly, and Cyrus picked up his head, looking at his best friend, who sighed and nodded. “I got to know Marty, and his little sister. Did you know that because she’s not allowed to have a puppy, he acts like one so she can play with him and not miss out?” 

“That’s adorable,” Amber said. “I feel like I missed out entirely. I was too scared to get to know them, and too scared of being seen as different. Cyrus, what you did at the game...that was so ridiculously brave.” Cyrus noticed that she was looking right at Andi as she said that last part, but he didn’t say anything. Everyone needed their own time. 

“Yeah, well now I’m an outcast, and nothing changed,” he said. “In fact, things got worse. No more zombies. Are they even going to be allowed to clean out their lockers?”

“Yeah,” Buffy said. “But only after Marty, Lenni, and T.J. get out of containment.”

“They’re in containment?!” Cyrus jumped up. “Still?! T.J. hates containment! He wouldn’t even talk about it because he said it was absolutely horrible! It’s been three days since the game!”

“Yeah, my mom said that they’re ‘making sure that there’s no rabid zombie tendencies still latent within them’ before releasing them. I think she saw the way I looked at Marty, and she also recognized T.J. as a zombie and not as a human and is taking her sweet time as some revenge or something. She still thinks zombies are horrible monsters.”

“But they’re not!” Cyrus said. “They’re just different, but equally as wonderful or horrible as humans! Only Kira wanted to ruin everything!”

“Yeah, but one bad zombie to the eyes of the people of Shadyside…” Andi said.

“Kira literally ruined everything for everyone else, didn’t she?” Jonah asked. 

“I hate Kira,” Buffy said, crossing her arms. “My mom said that she’s staying in the juvenile detention section of Zombie Containment for a while. She pleaded guilty and is awaiting trial. This is officially the one time I’m glad human judges are way too harsh on zombies.”

“I’m not going to say anything because I don’t want to jinx anything for other undeserving zombies,” Cyrus said. “I just hope he’s okay.”

* * *

T.J. spent the last three days in solitary confinement. There was no window, the light never shut off, and the only interactions he got were with Patrol officers either giving him food —canned cauli-brains, flavorless— or making him stick his Z-Band arm through a hole in a door, where they locked his arm down and took off the Z-Band to update it or study it or whatever. And T.J. already hated when he was forced to go full zombie, but to do so while restrained felt like even worse torture. 

To be honest, T.J. estimated he spent three days based on the frequency of his meals. In reality, he had no idea. It could have been a single day, or a week. Time was hard to tell when you’re in containment. 

He missed his friends. If Lenni and Marty were near him, he couldn’t hear them, and he just wanted to be near them again. He wanted to go back to school with his human friends, if he still had them, and he definitely wanted to go back to Cyrus. He desperately wanted to go back to Cyrus, and kiss him without handcuffs on or a jeering crowd. 

That kiss was the only thing that kept T.J. going, kept him from spiraling into depression. That kiss reminded him that not all humans hated him, that the most important human in his life didn’t hate him, didn’t hate zombies. He clung onto that kiss, replying it in his head, fantasizing how he would have done it differently, done it sooner, how he wanted to take Cyrus into the Zombie Safe Room, push him against the wall, and kiss him until both of them had to pull away to get air. 

He moved on his bed and winced. When he was tased in the gym, it was painful and he swore he still felt residual shocks all over his body. Once he was in containment, he was grabbed roughly, thrown about a few times, and officers were not hesitant to use batons to get him to comply at the slightest hesitation. They didn’t see him as a person, they saw him as an animal who could speak English. 

At least he was left alone for most of the time he was in there. He mostly closed his eyes and replayed his time at Grant high, especially conversations with Cyrus, like their banters, and he started hearing a tune in his head, something he wanted to write down for a new song to sing with his band, and when left alone, he was bold enough to sing. He wasn’t the best singer, nothing compared to Jonah, but he could carry a tune pretty well. 

_ “I know it might be crazy,”  _ he started humming.  _ “But did you hear the story, _

_ I think I heard it vaguely, _

_ A boy and a zombie. _

_ Oh tell me more, oh, sounds like a fantasy _

_ What could go so wrong with a boy and a zombie. _

_ You’re from the perfect paradise, and I’m living on the darker side, _

_ Oh I’ve got a feeling, if you get to know me _

_ Right from the start you caught my eye _

_ One look gave me the spark of life _

_ Oh I’ve got a feeling if you get to know me. _

_ Someday, this could be this could be ordinary  _

_ Someday, this could be something extraordinary _

_ You and me side by side, under the bright daylight _

_ They laugh we’ll say, we’re gonna be someday.” _

A guard started banging on the door and T.J. shouted out. “I’m allowed to sing! I’m also allowed a pen and paper! I know my rights!” There was a grumble on the other side and the slot in the door opened and a gold pencil and a few sheets of printer paper were shoved through. Better than nothing, he supposed, and he took the pencil and paper and started writing down those last lyrics and a few notes for the piano melody. 

_ “Oh you look delicious, oops I mean gorgeous, _

_ Now you’re getting fearless, _

_ I’m just rooting for us. _

_ If different was a superpower, _

_ We’d be so flawless, _

_ Yeah we could make these two worlds ours,  _

_ I'm rooting for us _

_ Two lonely hearts meet in the dark _

_ Imagine it, now they start a spark _

_ You got my attention, What happens next, then? _

_ Movies and long walks in the park _

_ Hanging out anywhere we want _

_ I like the way you're thinking, I can almost see it _

_ Someday, This could be, this could be ordinary _

_ Someday, Could we be something extraordinary? _

_ You and me side by side, Out in the broad daylight _

_ If they laugh, we'll say, We're gonna be someday _

_ Someday, someday _

_ So let them talk if they wanna, Let them talk if they're gonna _

_ We're gonna do what we wanna, Let them talk, let them talk _

_ If they wanna, they wanna _

_ Someday, This could be, this could be ordinary _

_ Someday, Could we be something extraordinary? _

_ You and me side by side, Out in the broad daylight _

_ If they laugh, we'll say _

_ We're gonna be someday _

_ Someday, someday _

_ We're gonna be someday _

_ We're gonna be someday.”  _ T.J. looked at the music he wrote and smiled. He wasn’t sure what would be possible legally when he eventually got out of containment, but he would find a way to play this for Cyrus. This was going to be his thank you.

* * *

Cyrus mostly stayed at home now whenever he wasn’t at school, so Buffy and Andi decided to walk around close to Zombietown together. Andi was wearing a bracelet that her mother had given her when she was little, saying it belonged to her father she never met. It was a woven leather bracelet with a unique stone in the middle. She was rubbing it with a worried look. “Is it weird that I’m getting a bad feeling about...something?” 

“About what?” 

“I don’t know. It weirdly feels like...you’re gonna think I’m crazy.”

“We went to a zombie party and Cyrus kissed a zombie in front of basically the whole town,” Buffy said. “You’re not the craziest thing around here.”

She sighed. “The bracelet my father gave me...it feels like it’s warning me that something bad is going to happen.”

“Can you...hear it?”

“No, it’s just like...a sinking feeling in my stomach that feels slightly better when I touch the bracelet. It’s probably a placebo effect, like Cyrus would say.”

“Yeah...sure,” Buffy said, and she saw Zombietown completely closed off by chain link fences and there were repurposed city buses by the entrance. Buffy saw a familiar little girl and she ran to the fence. “Juliana!” A Z-Patrol officer ran up to her and Buffy stared her down hard enough to make her stop. “One step closer, and I’ll tell my mother you threw me to the ground.” The officer backed away, but kept an eye on her. Juliana was being held by an older man, probably her father, and holding a stuffed puppy. “Juliana…” 

“Buffy, daddy! This is Marty’s friend Buffy!”

“Really?” He turned to look at her. “Zair Festeiro, it’s nice to meet one of Marty’s friends. I wish I got to know you better.”

“I wish I got to be a better friend to your son, he’s pretty great,” she said. “How is he?”

Both of their faces fell and Juliana poked her fingers through the fence. Buffy put her hand over hers. “None of the kids came back. All we heard was about Kira about to be tried for Reckless Endangerment of Human Lives.” 

“They’re not going to hold that against T.J., Marty and Lenni, right?”

“It doesn’t seem like it,” he said. “The officers said they’re coming back after everyone gets the Z-Band update, so either tomorrow or the next day.”

“It’ll be almost a week of them in there!”

“I know,” he said sadly. “There’s nothing we can do.”

“I’m going to do it instead,” she said. “Don’t worry. I’ll help you guys out.” 

* * *

Buffy was able to get her friends released that day. They had updated Z-Bands that were no longer able to be jail broken, but the Z-Patrol scientists decided to appease them slightly by adding games, texting, calls, and WiFi to the bands. But that didn’t make any of them happy. T.J. shared his songs with his friends, and they learned how to play it over that weekend, and tried to swallow the horrible feeling that seemed to linger in their throats. On Monday, they had to go back to school for the last time, under the watchful eye of Z-Patrol officers, to clean out their lockers. They were never going to go to human school again. 

It was like a final march when the Z-Patrol led them into the school. For the most part, the Z-Patrol stayed as a barrier between the zombies and human students. Vice Principal Lee smirked and went up to her office while Principal Metcalf stood around watching the zombies glumly shove their things back into their backpacks. He seemed sad to see them go, but T.J. wasn’t sure how genuinely he was feeling that. Better than outright hatred.

“T.J.!” 

His heart physically hurt and he turned to see Cyrus trying to break through a Z-Patrol officer holding him back, telling him that there’ll be no fraternization between humans and zombies. He watched Cyrus beg, backed up by his friends. He even saw Buffy throw several threats, but they didn’t work, the officers stood their ground, and he saw Lenni and Marty look over and give a sad wave. 

“This sucks,” Lenni said, watching their friends argue with the officers. “They’re not even gonna let us say a proper goodbye.” 

T.J. and Cyrus’s eyes met and his heart hurt more than anything he ever felt. “Marty...eat my heart please?”

“Only if you eat mine,” he said, looking at Buffy. “Just when we start hitting it off...there was a connection there. Smart, funny, athletic, competitive...she’s perfect. And just when we realize how well the two of us work together...Kira ruined it.”

“How perfect would Jonah have been for the band? His voice is literally the best one I’ve ever heard! I like him better than most human celebrity singers!” Lenni grumbled. 

Cyrus never looked away from T.J., and he felt like he was choking on his heart. He wanted to rush forward, run into his arms and kiss him again, but he knew he’d never make it. Instead, he pulled his eyes away from Cyrus and slammed his locker shut. That startled a few of the officers hanging around and they pulled out tasers on him. He was forced to stay calm, along with his friends, while their human friends screamed at the officers to stop. “Are we gonna have a problem son?” 

“No, no sir...I’m just...emotional.”

“Emotional?” He put his hand on the trigger. 

“I’m not angry,” he said. “Not at anyone here at least.”

“Then what are you?”

He looked at Cyrus and sighed. “Gargazariska,” he mumbled in Zombie, and walked away with his head hung low. The guard eyed him suspiciously and looked at Lenni. 

“What did he say?”

“He just didn’t want to acknowledge it in English,” she said. 

“What did he say?”

“He said he’s in love,” she said quietly. “But he’ll never be able to be with him again.”

The man looked grossed out, but sympathetic, and put the taser away as everyone started heading out the door with heavy backpacks, then past the gate. Once it was locked, the Z-Patrol packed up and left, though most people still stood outside the school on their side of the gate. A few of them were crying and hugging each other while T.J. looked at the school through the chain-link fence, feeling so much pain, he felt both numb and like he was about to throw up. Metcalf followed them outside and sighed, heading over to T.J. 

“I’m sorry son, I really was rooting for you.”

He looked numbly at the windows, trying to remember which class Cyrus was in right now. “You don’t get it.”

“I might more than you think,” he said. He looked around before pulling out his phone and showing a wedding picture to T.J. One between him and another man. “There are obstacles that I never had to face that you did, but there’s one I still am facing.” 

He stared at the picture wistfully and in awe. “I didn’t know.”

“In Shadyside, I could lose my job,” he said. “You know, I was the one who advocated for zombie integration.”

“I didn’t. But then why did the Vice Principal make us stay in the basement at first?”

“I had to concede that to her, and all the human parents,” he said. “I wasn’t proud of it. I was angry every second I had to watch that. The first opportunity I was able to grant you the rights you should have been afforded in the first place, I did it.”

“Really? I was...I was almost killing myself, literally. I altered my Z-Band to be stronger when my teammates didn’t help me...so we could win. It was all on me...and it got ruined by Kira shutting off my Z-Band. I never went after people’s brains.”

“I know,” he said. “The Goodmans came to me with mountains of new research about zombie psychology. It was very interesting, and I so wished I could have helped more. But my hands were tied. I did fight for you though.”

“They were scared of me, weren’t they?” He felt sick to his stomach when he said that, and Dr. Metcalf didn’t answer. None of the zombies made any efforts to go back to Zombietown, and Dr. Metcalf made no efforts to send them away. He seemed to sympathize with them. 

“I’m sorry T.J. This world still has a lot to learn, and we have to ask you to have triple the patience, maturity, and control than anyone else to get half of the respect of the world. It’s not fair on kids.”

“Zombies don’t get the luxury of being seen as kids.”

“I see you as a kid,” he said. “Well, a teenager. And I promise you that I won’t stop fighting for you guys. I hope I’m successful.”

“Thanks sir,” he said, but he didn’t believe it.

“You know, it will be my greatest accomplishment if I’m able to be the one who hands you your diploma at graduation.” 

T.J. stopped and looked at him, and looked in his eyes. He meant it. “I’m not hopeful, but...it’s a nice thought.”

He was about to take one last look and convince the other zombies to start heading home when the Zombie Alerts started going off and metal barrier reinforcements started going over the doors and windows. He froze and looked around, counting 28 other zombies. There were thirty to start off, and since Kira was going to be in Juvenile Detention Containment for a long time, she wasn’t here to pick up her stuff. Everyone was accounted for. 

“Dr. Metcalf, there’s no way that there could be a zombie in there!” He said, and then he heard Chet shout. 

“Fire!” 

T.J. whirled around and saw what he was gesturing towards. There were several windows in flames. Dr. Metcalf was rapidly answering calls and texts, and T.J. was able to pick up a few words: electrical fire, wiring mix up, wrong alerts, too far. The fire alarms and zombie alarms got mixed up, and an unrelated electrical fire started. Everyone was trapped inside and Z-Patrol was too far away. They couldn't’ use the codes to unlock the door. 

The zombies around him were panicking, and even he was feeling a little jumpy. Fire was the instinctual fear of almost all zombies, and they all felt either uneasy or went into full panic. But T.J. had something else on his mind. Cyrus was in there. 

He had to take decisive action, and he called everyone over and huddled together, forming a plan with everyone. They were apprehensive, but they agreed, and one of them, Kaitlyn, dropped her things and ran to Zombietown. T.J. then grabbed the heaviest textbook he could find and went to the gate again, facing Metcalf. “Do you really trust us?”

“T.J., what are you doing?”

“We can help. Really help. But we need you to prove what you said to me, by standing on our side, standing up for us. Do you trust us?”

He paused and looked at the scared but determined faces. “I do.” Marty had taken the book and started hammering it to break the padlock on the door, busting it open. Dr. Metcalf came up to T.J. “I need to know your plan.”

He took a shaky breath and looked up at the school, the flames licking at certain windows and smoke billowing everywhere. “I’ve got important people in there…and I’m hoping my instincts know that too.”

“T.J.?”

He looked Metcalf in the eye, and slammed his Z-Band against the wall of the school, breaking it off and letting it fall to the ground. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love you guys who kudos and commented, but y’all are slave drivers, lol. Not even 1:00 a.m. and I got the 4 comments i needed! So, I’m going to give myself a teeny bit more reprieve and set the new standard to be either 6 comments or 15 Kudos, whichever comes first (I have 35 Kudos at the moment, so that’s how I’ll mark it).


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SaltyTyrus - I’m dedicating this chapter to you because your comments kept me so freaking happy all day long. I loved the analysis and paragraphs. Made my entire day! 
> 
> Also, feel free to watch all of Zombies 1+2 from this point. The only thing I’m going to borrow from the movies from now on is the mythology/background and aesthetic.

Cyrus was living out one of his many nightmare scenarios. The school was on fire, and he was locked in. Several of the jocks in the classroom were trying to break down the doors and window, but there were anti-zombie metal barriers covering all the openings, not letting any of the smoke escape. Everyone was screaming and crying, and Cyrus weirdly had one other thought in mind other than his impending doom. 

_ I’m glad T.J. isn’t here.  _

He actually had to stop and process that thought. He was shocked that it came to his mind, but he realized it was true. He was glad T.J. was safe outside, and that he wasn’t in the room with him, in the school at all. He was glad T.J. was going to be okay and safe, glad that T.J. wasn’t in his arms in the building with him. The only thing he was angry at was that he wasn’t going to be able to spend more time in T.J.’s arms. He wanted more time with T.J.

Buffy stumbled across the room and grabbed him, taking him to a corner that had a little less smoke, and she sat him down with Jonah before grabbing some of the teacher’s personal coffee filters to give them out to her friends, trying to use them as masks to breathe through. 

“Guys” he reached next to him and squeezed Buffy’s arm with his free hand, while making eye contact with all of his friends. “I love you guys.”

“Cyrus, stop saying that,” Buffy said. “We’re gonna make it out?”

“How?!” Jonah shouted, he was clearly about to go into a panic attack. “We’re trapped in an anti-zombie school while it’s on fire!”

“Z-Patrol will come back,” she said, biting her lip. “We’ll be okay,” she kept repeating. “But Jonah, I need you here with me. Keep your eyes on me and take slow breaths.” 

There was screaming all around them, and what Buffy was asking him seemed impossible, but he trusted her so much, so he did his best to calm his breathing like she asked. He took both Cyrus’s and Buffy’s hands, squeezing them as he breathed. “We need...we need a plan…”

“Our plan is to stay in a place with low smoke, breathe calmly through the filter masks, and wait for help,” she said, looking at Cyrus. She was scared too, but only Cyrus and Andi could read what kind of fear she portrayed. Anyone else would think she was angry, but Cyrus knew better, and he tried to look at her reassuringly. They would be okay...hopefully. He wanted to look out of the window but metal sheets covered it. 

* * *

Andi and Amber hid under a desk together, holding each other. “What do we do?” She asked. 

“I don’t know,” Andi said, holding Amber. Just...hope they can get us out soon?”

“Who’s they?”

She looked around at her Spanish class. Most people were crying into their own arms or into each other. 

“Anyone.” She looked down and her bracelet started to glow bright blue. 

“Andi...what’s happening?”

“I...I don’t know...I feel weird…”

* * *

Cyrus. 

That’s the only thing that went through T.J.’s mind as the Z-Band fell on the floor and he started getting stronger, his veins and eyes darkening, and he roared, rushing to the metal sheet covering the main entrance and he started attacking it. He smelled the fire and shrunk back a bit, then he heard himself say a name in his head again. Cyrus. Cyrus needed him. Cyrus danger. So he went back at it again. 

Dr. Metcalf stared in awe. “The doors are zombie-proof. He’ll never make it through.” 

“Not alone,” Marty said. He smashed his own band against the wall and shucked it off, going full zombie as well, going to help T.J. open the door. Lenni turned to Metcalf.

“Kaitlyn went to Zombietown to bring more people. All of us together can break through the barriers and save everyone inside, carrying them out here to get them help. Full zombie, even though we have an instinctual fear of fire, we also have a greater hoard resolve, and T.J. has more resolve to get through those doors than anyone. Plus, we’re stronger and faster like that, and harder to hurt and feel pain. We can get every student out and we won’t need as much medical attention,” she said. “Tell Z-Patrol to bring extra Z-Bands, as many as they can, and to help the fire department put out the fire. And every ambulance they have.”

He nodded. “I’ll stand up for you. Please...just help us.” 

She took a deep breath, suppressing her fear of the fire and started breaking off her Z-Band, hearing all the others behind her do the same, using the wall, rocks, and anything they could to get their Z-Bands off. They let out a huge, collective roar that could shake the earth before they started attacking the front entrance. 

“Buffzska!” Marty roared. Buffy’s name in Zombie Tongue. T.J. looked at him and gave him a gruff nod. 

“Zirugzka,” he grunted back. Cyrus. 

With the help of the entire zombie integration class, they were able to break through the first door, and William stayed behind to keep the door from springing back closed, growling and grunting out simple zombie words to the others, telling them to go. 

T.J. and Marty led everyone through, both of them using their heightened senses to sniff out Buffy and Cyrus, two smells that they knew well, almost instinctively. They knew where to go, they weren’t far. 

All the doors had metal slabs in front of them, from the Zombie Alert defense system. It was meant not to allow any zombies in. However the humans who designed it never counted on a hoard of zombies working together for a common goal, and the metal barriers were never tested. Based on the way that less than thirty of them were able to break through the front door and needed only one guy to keep it open so the hydraulics didn’t close the door again, they severely underestimated the strength of both individual zombies and of a full hoard. 

The zombies growled and roared as they went through the halls, and soon there were more roars and growls as more teenagers and adults started trickling into the school. T.J. could faintly hear Z-Patrol sirens in the distance, and he had to struggle a little not to attack the first thing he saw. His instincts started firing at the sound of sirens…humans attack, attack back...then another thought broke through: Cyrus. Cyrus in fire. Cyrus pain. Cyrus hurt. “Zirugzka!” He roared and kept going, looking for the door with Cyrus while Marty went with him. 

Behind him, he heard clanging of other zombies trying to open doors, but they were disorganized, not enough people per door, not enough emotion and willpower. They didn’t think it was going to work, so they didn’t have the strength needed behind their actions. But T.J. wasn’t going to leave without Cyrus. 

Then, Marty found the door, putting his hand around T.J.’s arm harshly. If either of them hadn’t been been full zombies, they would have easily broken a bone. “Buffzska!” 

“Za!” T.J. called over more zombies to help and they started beating down the door.

* * *

“Zombies!” One of the girls cried, scooting back from the door. “If the fire doesn’t kill us, the monsters are gonna eat our brains!” 

Cyrus was having trouble breathing. Most of the class was having trouble breathing. There was too much smoke in the room and it was even hard to see, but when they heard zombies, their heads snapped up.

“But zo- _ *cough* *cough* _ zombies are afrai-  _ *cough* _ afraid of fire…” Cyrus managed to get some words out as he coughed up the smoke in his lungs, the coffee filters Buffy giving him only helping a small amount. 

“They  _ *cough* *cough* *cough* _ they- _ *cough* _ ,” Buffy wasn’t even able to finish her thought as she coughed up her lung. Jonah tried helping by removing his shirt and giving it to her, seeing it was a better mask than a coffee filter, and the basketball jersey she was wearing wouldn’t work compared to his cotton shirt. 

“For you,” Jonah wheezed out. “Here for you.”

“Me? But…” the door finally broke completely open and zombies started coming in, growling and looking absolutely terrifying. They all looked the same way that T.J. looked when Kira shut off his Z-Band when he finally noticed that they weren’t wearing any Z-Bands. Through the smoke, he saw three figures come their way, three figures that had familiar heights. “Teej?” He coughed out again, squinting. 

“Zirugzka!” T.J. bent down. Anyone else would have said he looked like a monster; frowning, growling, deep red eyes, dark veins, and even paler skin. He was scowling as he huffed, and his whole body was shaking, but Cyrus didn’t see the monster. Cyrus saw his boyfriend, facing the biggest zombie instinctual fear while running on pure instincts to save him. His feelings for Cyrus was more powerful than survival. 

“T.J…” 

He grunted and growled, picking Cyrus up and Cyrus saw Marty lean down and pick Buffy up. Lenni grabbed Jonah in a fireman’s carry and the other humans in the room screamed, seeing —in their minds— zombies grab three people for potential brain eating. 

“No!” Cyrus shouted between coughs. “Helping! Saving! They’re saving you!” 

The screams died down as T.J. held Cyrus tighter. He was still being somewhat careful but Cyrus knew that he would have big purple bruises where his hands were tomorrow, and started sprinting out of the burning building. 

* * *

“Andi?! What’s going on?” Amber was having trouble breathing in the classroom they were in. Smoke was coming in and none was coming out, and they could hear growing and roaring faintly outside the doors. 

“Zombies..” Andi groaned, feeling a weird tingly pain all over her body. “They...I think they’re helping…”

“Why would they help us?” She coughed again and Andi gave her arm a squeeze, still feeling tingly and in pain, like every part of her body was trying to grow out of her skin. 

“Because…” she groaned out in pain loudly. “T.J. is their leader...and Cyrus is in here…” 

“Andi, what’s happening to you?!”

* * *

Just about every family from Shadyside was standing at a distance set by the police outside of the school, watching worriedly. Bex was among all these people, standing with her mother, Cece. Zombie families started running in, but the adults and older teens looked between the building and the younger children. The kids needed to be watched but the students in the building needed help. 

“I’ll watch your kid!” Bex said, waving, calling attention to herself. “Please! Go! My kid is in there!” The zombie adults nodded and started sending the younger zombies over to Bex. As more small children started flocking to her, Cece started taking care and talking to some of the kids, surprising Bex. Cece had always been pretty...well...racist against non-humans, and now she was talking to children, calming them down and taking care of them. 

Soon, more and more Shadyside humans started taking in zombie kids, trying to keep them calm while staying calm themselves down. It soon became an almost silent assembly line. Families of adults, teens, and kids came running through the gates, the small children going to the human families, while the teens and adults broke off their Z-Bands, went full zombie, and rushed into the school to break down reinforced doors and help the human high schoolers escape the burning school. That was the first time Shadyside didn’t seem to care about the differences between humans and zombies. The first time Shadyside became one community. 

Then Bex noticed someone run out from the woods and she left the kids with her mother, running to the new person wearing dark leather lined with fur, orange-brown pants and a purple shirt. He was taller than her, had a beard and long brown hair with one pale blonde, almost white streak on the front left of his face. His face was closed off, worried, and the stone of the necklace he was wearing seemed to emit a faint blue glow. “You’re here…”

“I heard...I know she’s in there. It’s her school isn’t it?”

“It’s not safe for you out here,” she tried to tell him. “Go back to you-“

“Bex, I can’t!” He growled, and she saw them for the first time in years, his long canine fangs. 

“Bowie…”

“That’s my daughter in there!”

“There’s a hoard of zombies in there saving her,” she said. 

“You don’t understand...She’s my daughter! I can feel her energy! Her stone glowed!” 

“It...it what?” She pulled him even further away from the crowd and spoke in hushed and worried tones. “You said that it would only glow if she’s going to transform...and you said that she might not ever transform.”

“She’s the first hybrid,” he said. “We didn’t know anything. But, I think...no, I know, I know because I feel it in my heart and in my gut, she’s transforming...she’s like me.”

Bex let out a gasp. “Andi’s a werewolf…”

* * *

The glow from the bracelet grew brighter around Andi and Amber saw the whole thing. A mesh of hair in the front left of her hair suddenly turned pale blonde, almost white. Just that one mesh. Soon after, the glow from the bracelet started dying down and her eyes glowed yellow. She let out a yell —no— a growl, and Amber saw her canine teeth had extended into fangs. “Andi…” 

Andi looked at Amber. Somehow, it wasn’t as hard to breathe anymore, and then down at her hands. Her nails...they were claws now, and the bracelet wasn’t glowing as bright, but it was still glowing neon blue. She looked back up at Amber, scared of herself, but Amber coughed out some more smoke and touched her arm gently, looking deeply into her eyes while she struggled to breathe in the smoke. “Bambi…”

Then there was pounding and growling at the door, and Amber doubled over, coughing. She looked at Andi and the door, trying to signal her. Andi picked up on what she wanted to say. Maybe, with claws and fangs, Andi was strong enough to help from the inside. She picked up Amber and set her closer to the door before starting to attack it herself. She could feel the eyes of the rest of the classroom on her, but she didn’t have time to feel self conscious. 

Maybe that’s why she gave into all her instincts, growling, snarling, clawing, and then, when there was finally enough of a gap to have the zombies push the door fully open, she picked up Amber and let out a loud, ear piercing howl. 

* * *

Bowie heard the howl and perked up. “She howled! She’s a wolf! She’s a real wolf!” 

“My mother doesn’t know,” Bex paled. “I never told her who the father was…”

“Your mother’s granddaughter is a wolf!” He laughed and started to howl himself until Bex covered his mouth. 

“We’re dealing with a delicate situation! The Z-Patrol isn’t arresting zombies for breaking off their Z-Bands and going rabid, they’ll look for any excuse to arrest someone, and I don’t think I can explain to our daughter alone what it means to be a wolf.”

He stopped and looked at her. “Does that mean...you want me to meet her?”

“I want you to come home with me, at least for a little while,” she quickly said, knowing Bowie wasn’t a fan of leaving the full pack. “Enough to help Andi and be her real father.”

“You never let me see her before.”

“It wasn’t safe for you to come here, and until now...literally just now, it wasn’t safe for Andi to know she was more different than she realized.”

He looked deeply into Bex’s eyes. “I wish I took you and her back to the pack to live with us when I found out you were pregnant.”

“I was still a teenager,” she said, combing the white hair behind his ear. “And Andi...she was born human, or at least looking fully human with no wolf traits…I just wanted what was best.”

“I know.” He took her hand and kissed it. “I think about you and her every day. I still love you. I never stopped.”

“Bowie…” she wiped a tear before giving him a gentle kiss. “I never stopped loving you either.”

* * *

Through pure aggression and his basketball talents, even when he was fully zombied out, T.J. was able to go through the halls, holding Cyrus tightly as to not let him fall, and running away from the fire. It was quite a struggle to get through the halls with zombies grunting in Zombie Tongue directions to each other and going in every direction possible, breaking down doors and sticking together as a way to suppress the fear of fire. If he was fully cognisant, he would have been impressed. 

He heard Buffy and Jonah coughing behind him as he leapt over other people and zombies, just running as fast as possible while holding the most important person in his mind. He encountered a small blockage in the main hall of adult zombies rushing in and he saw his father. Both of them didn’t have Z-Bands on, so they were fully zombie and his father made eye contact with them, then looked down at Cyrus. 

“Agro, zarguh gaz?”

“Za,” he grunted back. “Zirugzka!”

He grunted a sound of approval and gestured for T.J. to get out as fast as possible since he was in front of Lenni and Marty, each holding their own humans. Cyrus started coughing out his lungs again, curling up in T.J.’s arms, and his aggression and resolve returned and he started sprinting, faster than he’d ever run before, knocking over several zombies coming into the school as part of the rescue effort, and finally was able to go to the second entrance Z-Patrol had managed to open as a way to relieve congestion and allow an exit point for zombies and humans. 

Finally, he was outside, the first one outside. Cyrus was still coughing but now there was good, clean air entering his lungs. He still held Cyrus as he fell to his knees, careful not to drop or hurt Cyrus. Several Z-Patrol officers with their hands on their tasers started rushing forward while T.J. shakily held his left arm out. His arm was shaking hard, like he was lifting the hardest weight, and Cyrus saw the officers and T.J. and managed to sputter out, “NO! Band!” He coughed. “Z-Band! He’s asking for a Z-Band!” 

One officer still kept her hand on her taser while the other one went to T.J. and snapped a new, unbroken Z-Band on his wrist, hearing it beeps and T.J.’s veins immediately started to recede. The officer was about to pull Cyrus away but he held on tighter to T.J., shaking his head at the officer. 

“T.J.! T.J.!” He looked into his eyes, trying not to breathe too quickly but still worried. “T.J...are you okay?”

“Zirugzka…” he grumbled out. 

“You said that several times…I don’t know what that means…” he said, feeling worried. 

“Zirugzka…” he got out again, bringing his heart rate down. “...Cyrus…” 

“Is...is that my name in Zombie Tongue?” He asked, and T.J. nodded, feeling extremely exhausted, panting heavily. “I love that. Never call me anything else again,” he said, trying to sound serious and T.J. let out a little laugh. 

Buffy and Marty were the next ones out, with Marty asking for the Z-Band the same way T.J. did, and Lenni got Jonah off of her shoulder before she fell hard to her knees, exhausted even in zombie form. Z-Patrol officers quickly put bands on them as more zombies and humans started coming out, the humans being collected by paramedics while the zombies had Z-Bands placed on them. 

Andi shocked everyone by coming out holding Amber, but in the whole confusion, she was able to get Amber to a paramedic and disappear with her mom and a strange man. It was clear that she needed to do something herself, and she’d probably explain later, so Cyrus wasn’t worried about her for now. He was more preoccupied with something else. 

Cyrus refused to be seen by the paramedic yet. He’d go in a bit. Now, he needed to catch up to the zombie who rushed into a burning building in full zombie. “What...what were you thinking?”

“You were in there,” he said. “You needed help. It wasn’t even a question.”

“And everyone?”

“We might be disappointed in humans, maybe even a little bit angry...but we can’t let people die,” he said. “And they agreed, as long as I led.”

“Which you did,” he said with a smile. “My incredibly brave, selfless,  _ idiot _ , but all around amazing zombie T.J…”

“Cy..” he laughed, and apologetically grinned. “Sorry, Zirugzka…”

“Gar gar gizar,” Cyrus blurted out, stopping T.J. in his tracks. 

“Cyrus...do you know what that means?” 

“I do,” he said. “Cross referenced it with several places and made sure I was pronouncing it correctly. T.J., Gar gar gizar.”

“I...I uh…” he looked into Cyrus’s eyes. He put his hand on Cyrus’s cheek and smiled tiredly, but with more joy than Cyrus thinks he’d ever seen in T.J.’s eyes. “You too…Gar gar gizariskag…I love you too.”

Cyrus didn’t care about who was watching and who cared at that point. This time, this wasn’t going to be a statement for people to gawk at, to see him as different. This time, this was for himself and T.J. purely, nothing else. He pulled T.J. in by the back of his head and kissed T.J. deeply, feeling his heart flip when he felt T.J. kiss him back. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love you guys, but you’re too much sometimes (though I seriously love writing this series, and I promise, this is not over yet!) So, I’m going to give myself a teeny bit more reprieve and set the new standard to be either 6 comments!!!


	9. Chapter 9

_Back in the early days of Shadyside, the first settlers shared stories of strange phenomenon, and strange figures in the dark. They struggled through the long winters, and according to legends, many died mysterious deaths from what looked like an animal attack, but looked much worse. There were whispers of half man, half wolf beasts roaming the forests, until the settlers built traps, scaring them deeper into the woods, and farther away from the settlements._

_Some explorers, however, found a mystical object, a giant crystal that exuded immense power. There were some of these beasts protecting it, but the settlers fended them off, and took the crystal for themselves, using it to power the city of Shadyside for centuries. Right until a little accident involving lemon-lime soda mutated a part of the population and turned them into green-haired zombies, and shutting down the plant that drew its power from the mystical rock._

* * *

When Andi made eye contact with her mother, standing next to a man she’s never seen before in her life, she had already started feeling like she was going back to normal. She wasn’t as strong as she was a second ago, her teeth didn’t feel as big and sharp in her mouth, and her nails were short again, but she was still able to carry Amber all the way to an ambulance before she declined medical treatment, seeing the look her mother was sending her. _Come over here as soon as you can._

She quickly ran over to them, and her mom gave her a hug and a hushed “I’ll explain everything at home,” and the three of them went off. The walk was quick but it was quiet. And then Bex sat her down on the couch and grabbed Cece. “Clearly...I need to come clean about a few things…”

“Like when you let Andi dye this white part in her hair?” Cece said, but only then noticed the man in the room. “Who’s that?”

“I’ll get there,” she said. “But Andi’s hair isn’t dyed.” She took a deep breath. “Wow...coming out as bi to you was easier than this,” she mumbled, looking up before she steadied herself and looked back at the two women in her life. “Do you guys remember the story behind how I got Andi?”

“Yes,” Cece said. “It was during your high school one way foreign exchange in Iceland when you were 16 or 17. You were studying, one of the guys at your school thought you were cute or something, and then you didn’t use protection, but it all ended up fine because I’ve got a wonderful granddaughter to thank for that.” She said, giving Andi a small side hug.

“Yeah...that was a lie,” Bex said quickly. 

“What was a lie? It wasn’t a boy from your school in Iceland?”

“Actually...Iceland is a lie,” she said, seeing her mother look a mixture of confused and outraged. Meanwhile Andi was just confused. “Yeah…this is...oh boy, if you thought you wanted to kill me back then, you should probably buy my grave plot right now. But...I never went to Iceland. Technically speaking, I never left Shadyside.”

“What do you mean you weren’t in Iceland?!” Cece’s voice started to rise. “You were there for a whole year! You emailed me! I drove you to and from the airport!”

“You can email from anywhere, really. And I waited for you to leave the airport before I got out of line and out of the airport, then snuck into baggage claim about 40 minutes before you arrived when I ‘came back,’” She said using air quotes. “But if you want me to get through this story today...please don’t yell at me inbetween. I’ll hold time at the end for all the yelling you could possibly have.” Cece sat back in the couch, glaring with her arms crossed, a signal Bex took to continue. “Okay...so actually this story starts around the end of sophomore year. It wasn’t a secret that I hated...god I still kind of despise Shadyside. This land of perfection, and homogeneity, and I was ‘too different’ for these people and that’s almost only because I didn’t want to wear pastel colors 24/7, and didn’t always do well in school or a sport...I was miserable here. So, one day, I decided to cut class and explore the forbidden forest alone.”

“Rebecca!”

“Mother!” Cece quieted down immediately. “Basically, I was fine for the most part, until I hit my head or something. I know I passed out, but when I woke up...I met Bowie,” she said, gesturing to him. “He was taking care of me, healing me and thankfully, I didn’t bruise so when I came home I was fine. But, I spent the whole day I was supposed to be at school with him, and he was actually able to introduce me to everyone else, and...call it stupid or cheesy or whatever, but I fell in love that day. With him...his culture...everything. It was finally the one place I felt like I could belong. So when I went home, I meticulously made up Iceland, and when you dropped me off at the airport, I waited until you left and then I took a taxi back, and went to the forbidden forest.” 

Cece looked like she was ready to explode, but she kept quiet. Andi was frowning during all this. 

“So...I’m not Icelandic? At all?”

“Not a single drop,” she said. “But hey, you got to learn a ton about Iceland for world heritage day in middle school so…you’ll be an excellent tourist in Reykjavik?” Bex tried, but seeing Andi’s confused and also unamused face. “Okay...so, for the year, I lived with Bowie and his family...his pack. Because he’s...a werewolf.” 

Cece’s face shifted from anger to absolute horror. “Werewolf! Rebecca!”

“Mother, not now. Please. But...Bowie is a werewolf and we were in complete love during my time there...and as you probably guessed, I became pregnant…” 

Andi stared. “Is he…” she turned and looked at the man, who was shifting nervously behind Bex. “You’re my dad?” 

He looked at Bex and then at Andi with a soft smile. “I am...hey kiddo…”

“And you were here the whole time? And you knew?! Why didn’t either of you say anything? Or you come meet us, come back with Bex, and...be a real family?”

They both looked pained. “I was getting to that.” She looked at Bowie with sadness in her eyes, taking another deep breath before looking back at Andi and Cece. “We planned on staying together, with the pack. I was going to email my mother that I wanted to stay in Iceland and, you know...visit occasionally. And we prepared for you so much, the whole pack was excited, but...apprehensive. I was the first human within them. It’s traditional for one of the parents, typically the one not carrying the baby to make their child a moonstone necklace, but Bowie wanted to give you something with a little flair, something that was only for his little cub that nobody else had, so he made you a bracelet instead. That bracelet.

“The moonstone is...it’s what keeps werewolves both in check of their powers, as well as gives them their lifeforce, keeps them from dying. A werewolf without his moonstone for too long gets really really sick and if he doesn’t put it on, he dies. So...it’s a big deal, and he took so much time making that…he wanted it to be perfect.”

“I actually made seven versions, just waiting to fit the actual moonstone itself at the end when I found the right one for you. Number seven fit the bill, but I still have the first six,” he said. “I even wear this one,” he showed off a leather woven bracelet on his arm, similar to the style of the one she had, but without the stone hers had. “It’s what keeps me thinking of you.”

“And then...you were born,” Bex said. “Right in the pack. We were so happy, until we noticed a few things. Typically, werewolf babies are born just a little different from human babies. They look about the same, except for babies born with hair have the white tuft, and the moonstone was supposed to glow brightly the instant you came into this world, connecting you and the stone forever. But it didn’t.”

“We had no idea what to expect while we were expecting,” Bowie said. “You were...you still are the first baby born between a human and a werewolf. We still loved you so much...even other members of the pack thought you were so beautiful and held you...some tried to do small tests to see your werewolf abilities…”

“What kind of tests?!” Andi asked worried. 

“Nothing invasive or traumatic,” he said. “We made sure. But...werewolves have a sort of...magic to them. It’s not magic exactly, but we don’t know how to describe it, and the healer did a bunch of rituals and...you didn’t have anything werewolf-y at the time.”

“I was there for a week and a half after you were born, and Bowie and I talked nonstop. We tried to decide the right move, what we should do...but growing up as a human in a werewolf pack...it could be so dangerous. Werewolf children are much stronger than humans, and they play really, really rough, even by werewolf standards. And then, the biggest deciding factor...you would always be made to feel like an outsider within the pack. You’d be the human-werewolf hybrid without any werewolf abilities. Just a human with a wolf dad...I didn’t want you to feel ostracized. Neither of us did.” Bex wiped away a tear. 

“It was the hardest decision we ever made… you and Bex had to go back to the human community, grow up there as a normal human...I had to watch the two of you, who I loved so much...I had to watch you both leave. It was the worst day of my life.”

“And I went back to my mom’s…” Bex said. “I didn’t want to come back to Shadyside at all...I thought it was too close to Bowie and that hurt more...I hated the way they treated zombies here…especially after getting to know werewolves, I saw firsthand how wrong Shadyside was about how they treated monsters. I looked at other places I could have moved to, did research on what jobs I could get, what houses I could buy…But I came back because I was a seventeen year old with a baby and I needed my mom.” 

Cece softened a bit. “I always thought you came back with Andi in spite of me,” she said. “Not because of me.”

“Mom, we bicker, argue, full on fight a lot of the times, but you’re still my mom, and I still love you more than anything. I came back because even though I didn’t agree with you on every detail about raising a kid...you had a better shot than me of not screwing her up, and you helped me with the basics, so I could tweak things to be more of my style. I couldn’t have raised her alone. I needed either Bowie or you. We only sent letters to each other, in this little mail slot I installed in a tree right at the border, hidden from everyone. I told him all about you.” 

Cece got up and hugged her. “We’re still going to have words about everything else, but later.” Bex nodded, hugging her back and wiping her tears before pulling away. 

“So…” Andi said. “I’m half-werewolf...and you thought I’d never get my powers or anything? Which is why I didn’t grow up with the pack. But...why didn’t Bowie visit?”

“For the protection of both of you,” Bex said. “You, so that people wouldn’t label you as different outright, and Bowie…anti-monster laws technically apply to him too.”

“Okay, but...what now?” She asked. “I got my powers, apparently. I’m a werewolf…”

“Actually,” Bowie sat down next to her. “Maybe you could fill that part in for me?”

“Um...I don’t know where to begin. Zombies were kicked out of school today...there was an electrical in the teacher’s lounge and it accidentally tripped up the Zombie Alerts instead of the Fire Alarms, so the school went into automatic lockdown...and Amber and I were in a room together, trying to breath through the smoke when my bracelet started to glow...softly at first but then it got really, really bright. We could hear zombies in the hallway, and then soon at my door trying to open...and I let instincts take over, I guess. I clawed at the door, using all of my strength to open it, and…”

“You howled,” Bowie said. “Your first howl...I heard it. You actually howled your name, the wolf name you chose for yourself.”

“My...what?”

“When a werewolf reaches around seven or eight, they take their first howl. They’ll have already learned the howling language…”

“Not easy,” Bex said. “It’s all based on duration of the howl as well as slight pitch changes, and the howl for pancakes is almost exactly the same as the one for the F word. Every time I asked for breakfast during my pregnancy cravings, I had to put a pebble in the swear jar.”

Bowie smiled at her. “I remember. Most of the pebbles were hers.”

“Bowie, I speak Chinese and Wolf Howl is much, much more difficult.”

“Okay, okay,” he said. “Well, anyways, they already learn the language itself, but they don’t really howl, like...with that power. Their first howl is at their seventh or eighth birthday, and there’s this huge party and at the end, the little wolf looks up at the moon and howls their wolf name. That’s the instinctual first howl. They don’t choose it by studying and deciding, trying to pick, they howl what they feel inside, and that’s their name. I heard your howl…”

“He almost cried,” Bex said, squeezing his shoulder. 

“Like...heard it, heard it?” she asked. “Enough that you could tell what I said? in a burning building?”

“I did.” 

“So...what happens now? Do I stay here as a half werewolf? Do I go with your pack as a half human?” She asked. “Do I get to see my people...or my friends?”

“Well, we just found out you had powers after running out of a burning building, honey,” Bex said. “How about...we hold off on final decisions, but Bowie can stay here a few days, then for sure, we go later this week to the pack so you can meet everyone.”

“Like your other grandmother? She’s only seen you as a baby,” Bowie said. 

“Okay...just...chill out a little...then meet a part of my family I didn’t know existed until now…” she looked at her bracelet, her moonstone bracelet that Bowie made her when Bex was pregnant with her, and ran her thumb over the smooth stone, like she’d done a million times. “Bowie? D-dad?” She asked, testing out the word, and seeing him perk up immediately. “What’s your wolf name?”

“Translated?” He said. “It means Freedom.”

“And...what did I say?” 

He smiled. “Based on the letters your mother wrote me...it’s absolutely perfect.” He smiled and brushed her cheek with his thumb. “Creativity.” 

* * *

Eventually, the paramedics did make Cyrus let go of T.J. and head over to the hospital. T.J. shakily got up, feeling the Z-Band working at full capacity until he was stabilized before slowing back down to a normal pace, seeing Cyrus get loaded into an ambulance. Four people rushed over and after talking to the paramedics, two of them got into the ambulance with him while the other two watched the the ambulance leave among the other hoard of ambulances leave. Z-Patrol officers kept helping put new Z-Bands on zombies who just came out with humans, and eventually, one of them put down the Art teacher, got the Z-Band, and made his way over to T.J. 

“Dad! You’re okay?” He turned and hugged him. 

“If I’m okay? You’re asking if I’m okay?” He said, pulling away and looking at his son. “I should be asking you if you’re okay! They said that you were the one who came up with this hair-brained scheme?”

“Yeah...it was me. I was also the first one to smash off my Z-Band. I don’t exactly plan on doing that with this one, so don’t worry.”

“T.J...you ran into a burning building...fire! Zombies are afraid of fire!”

“Not if we have enough motivation apparently,” he said. “I had plenty of motivation.”

“The boy, right? His name is Cyrus in English, right?”

“Yeah...Cyrus,” he said. “Dad...he’s the one who kissed me.”

“I figured.”

“And he also said...well...gar gar gizigar.” 

His father looked back and smiled. “He did?”

“Yeah...and I said it back…and I honestly can’t believe that...that this is real life...but I’m also just really...really confused. I mean...zombies were kicked out because of me…”

“Because of Kira,” he corrected. 

“I was still the one full zombie and scaring people…”

“And then you went full zombie to save people. You led basically all of Zombietown to save the high school. And look!” He pointed at the people being held back by the police tape, still watching as the last of the people inside the building made it out and the fire department put out the flames. “The zombies had to bring their kids here, but not into the building, and human adults are taking care of zombie kids. T.J...indirectly, this is you. Because of you.” 

“I just wanted to save Cyrus…”

“That may have been what led your first thought, how you honed your instincts,” he said. “But I bet that if Cyrus wasn’t in there, you’d still do it because it was right.”

T.J. didn’t say anything. He wasn’t sure if it was true or not, but he liked that his father was saying these things. “Yeah, but now I’m just…what happens now? Between us? The segregation back in full force?”

“Not if we have anything to say about it,” two of the adults who were with Cyrus moments earlier walked up to him. He recognized them, mostly. 

“Oh, you’re...two of Cyrus’s parents. I know he has four because of remarrying and that you’re all mental health professionals, but since the first time I met you it was a whole group of adults…”

“Well the first time we met you, you were blonde,” the woman said with a chuckle, and T.J. tried to ignore a glare from his dad. “Sharon and Todd, the step-parents. The ambulance only let two people with Cyrus and we thought his birth parents were the ones who should go.” 

“Right...um, well I’m T.J...the way I’m supposed to look, and this is my dad, Zachary.”

“Pleasure to meet you,” Todd held out his hand to shake it and both of them were actually a little surprised. Humans typically tried not to touch zombies in causal contact, but Zachary took the hand and shook it. “You know, after the homecoming game, Cyrus snapped at us. Told us everything we’ve ever studied about the zombie psyche was wrong.”

“Oh, I’m sorry if I-“

“Clearly he was right,” Sharon interrupted him. “We were using outdated material, using secondhand accounts of zombies, and frankly, you just proved us all wrong the instant you ran into that school on fire. Wait...is fire actually a zombie fear or is that a myth.”

“Um...actual fear?”

“Oh, wow, so even more impressive,” she said. “And we spoke to the principal and he told us that you were the first one to run in.”

“Actually, he’s the one who came up with the plan,” his dad said, causing T.J. to blush a little. “Whole thing. He told Kaitlyn to come running to us and gathering as many zombies as she could to run to the school to help out, and the one who told the principal to tell the Z-Patrol to hold off on attacking and arresting zombies.”

“You really are a hero,” she said. “Our son’s hero.”

“Thank you,” he said, not completely feeling like a hero but still feeling good about himself with the praise. 

“How about we drive you to the hospital? To see Cyrus?” 

“Oh...uh…” T.J. looked uneasy. “Zombies aren’t allowed in human hospitals.”

‘He’s going to the one I work at,” she said. “As chief of psychiatry. I won’t let them turn you two away. Besides, I bet you want to see him okay with your own two eyes, don’t you?”

T.J. looked at his dad, who gave an approving nod. “But don’t think we’re not going to have a good long talk at home.”

* * *

Cyrus was still smiling giddily in the hospital bed. He had smiled right from the moment he kissed T.J. after getting out of the burning building, in the ambulance, and even through several x-rays. He had a bit of minor bruising on his legs and back, right where T.J. held him when he was carried across the school and out through the exits. He even smiled through his examinations with the doctors when they went to see how much smoke he inhaled, which is thankfully not enough to be worried about.

His parents thought he was a little crazy, coming out of a near death situation but smiling like he had just gotten married to his childhood sweetheart (hey, a boy could dream). Cyrus just kept replaying the moment they said gar gar gizar to each other, and kept thinking about each of the kisses he had with T.J. He came to one conclusion, he needed to kiss T.J. more.

“Well,” the doctor said, coming back. “I think I just want to keep you here until the end of the night, but you should be back home and sleeping in your own bed tonight.”

“Oh, thank you,” he said, and then he heard a commotion outside. 

“He’s not allowed in here!”

“He is if I say he is, Karen!” Cyrus frowned. That was Sharon shouting. 

“But hospital rules say…” 

“It’s an exception, besides, I’m going to have several words with the board later about this hospital rule.”

“The president of this won’t-“

“I’ll deal with him. Go ahead honey, he should be just a few doors down that way, and his name is on the chart outside, can’t miss it.” 

Cyrus frowned. “Who was Sharon yelling at?”

“One of the nurses must be giving her a hard time,” Leslie said, and got up when she heard a knock at the door. “And now I know exactly why,” she said as she opened the door. Cyrus sat up slightly, craning his neck and his smile returned full force. 

“T.J.!”

“Cy! I’m glad you’re okay, and like...really okay. He’s really okay, right?” He said, hugging him tightly. 

“Few bruises, a teeny bit of an asthma flare-up, but he’ll be going home later tonight,” Leslie said, then looked at her ex-husband with a smile. “I think we’ll give you two some privacy for a bit.” The two got up and walked out, and T.J. pulled a chair right up to the bed and sat down so he was eye level with Cyrus. 

“You’re really okay?” He asked, still a little worried. 

“Perfectly fine. Wheezing like I ran a mile, but otherwise perfectly fine.” He decided not to say anything about the bruises. “I can’t believe my stepmother is fighting for you to be in here with me.”

“Yeah, well...I did save her stepson’s life, apparently,” he said smiling, looking down. 

“Apparently? T.J., I’ve been watching the news while I’m in here. Everyone is saying that you’re the one who told everyone to go into the school! And you were the first one in! And you broke down the main doors as well as the door to my classroom and carried me out like my knight in green hair and customized coverall armor.” T.J. laughed at that and Cyrus took his hand giving it a big squeeze.

“I just…don’t feel too heroic. Especially after the homecoming game. People saw me as…”

“As a monster?” 

“...Yeah.”

“But you’re not one,” Cyrus said. “Not the way that people think of monsters. You’re a zombie, but with a big heart, and pretty soft lips, if I may add.”

T.J. laughed again, looking into Cyrus’s big brown eyes and smiling. “The whole time I was in containment...I thought of you.” 

“You did? I hope it wasn’t bad for you in containment.”

“It’s...solitary with extra gruffness,” he said. “But, I held out and I was mostly fine. And I even wrote a song for you.”

“No way!” He said up slightly. “You did?”

“Yeah...I mean, it’s kind of more of a ballad-y song, so Jonah’s vocals would probably fit it best…”

“I want to hear it,” he said. “I want to hear you sing it.” 

“But my voice-“

“Is the one who wrote it,” he said. “I want the private Cyrus version...or the private Zirkarka?”

“Are you trying to say your name in Zombie Tongue?” 

“Yes.”

“Zirugzka.”

“And...can I know your name?” T.J. groaned. “Come on, I don’t care how unpronounceable it is in zombie, I’ll still love it.”

“Actually, in Zombie Tongue, my name is Ekzurkizarka Grazirgarka...my embarrassing name is the English one.”

“Wait...you’re telling me you’re embarrassed of T.J.’s real meanings but not….whatever it is you just said in Zombie Tongue that I’m not going to attempt without having it written out in front of me and walked through a million times so that I don’t accidentally call you a dirty pile of kindergarten pancakes…”

“That was way too specific of a phrase for you to create off the cuff.” Cyrus shot him a glare and T.J. let out a little chuckle. 

“Come on, please? If you don’t tell me, I’ll be the first person on this planet to literally die of curiosity.”

T.J. sighed. “If I tell you, this information goes nowhere? Only my dad and grandparents know. Not even Marty and Lenni and I grew up with them.” Cyrus nodded, crossing his heart. “Okay, but you have to understand that my parents are huge...huge music freaks. My mom used to play records while she was pregnant with me and she picked out the name and everything so my dad kinda had to go through with it…” Cyrus gave him a bit of a playful glare telling him to get on with it. “T.J. Stands for...Thelonious….Jagger…”

“That’s your name?” T.J. winced and then sighed. “I love it!” Cyrus said, with extra enthusiasm. “That is a great name...and one I can actually pronounce.” T.J. let out a sigh of relief and a laugh. 

“That’s the first I’ve ever heard of it. My grandfather thought it was a ridiculous name and either calls me by my zombie name, or T.J., and that’s how I’ve been since I was three days old.”

“Well, I promised not to say it to anyone else,” he said. “But I think I know what I’m calling you in private,” he said with a little laugh, and T.J. couldn’t help but laugh too, leaning over to kiss him. 

“Gar gar gizar, you silly little man.”

“Gar gar gizar, Thelonious Jagger.”

“Don’t make me regret it already.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks guys! I actually had a little time to breathe this time...and yet I still wrote this in less than 4 hours, so I’m impressed with myself! Anyways, 5 comments before I post chapter 10


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